Patient Choice
What Is Patient Choice?
When the NHS was first founded choices were limited, but in recent years choice has become a key feature in the provision of health care services. The choice of hospital first introduced in 2006 is thrown open so that patients referred by their GP for hospital treatment can now choose to be treated in any hospital anywhere in the country, which meets the standards set by the NHS. Click here for a chart of the evolution of patient choice and look at the milestones and policies that have firmly placed it at the heart of the healthcare today.
Primary Care Trusts are expected to offer more choices for its local population.
The core message is that choice is not an NHS policy in itself…it is a thread running through various NHS policies, e.g. choice in elective care, choice and access to GPs, choice in the care of long-term conditions. One of the key ways in which Oxfordshire PCT is working with all practices to ensure that all clinically appropriate referrals to a hospital or clinic are made via Choose and Book. Choose and Book, the national electronic referral service, gives you a choice of place, date and time for your first outpatient appointment. The decision about where to be seen will be guided by clinical need, as you’ll want to be referred to the hospital or clinic that is best able to treat you. However, you may also want to consider waiting times.
If you are interested in finding out more about how your PCT is supporting you in making choices about the management of your health, please read the Patient Choice Newsletters below or email choice@oxfordshirepct.nhs.uk.
Patient Choice Newsletter Issue 1 - February 2009
Patient Choice newsletter Issue 2 - October 2009