Patients will have
more choice and a louder voice under major proposals set out today
by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
The White Paper, 'Equity and excellence: Liberating the
NHS', set out the Government's ambition to give
people more control over their own care, from choice of GP to
which consultant-led team they are treated by. Today, two
consultations - on Patient Choice and on Information - set out
proposals to meet that ambition.
Proposals to increase the choices that patients and service users
have about their care include:
* allow patients to choose
services from any willing provider;
* choice of provider for
diagnosis;
* choice of which team, led by a named consultant,
that they want to be seen by and what that treatment is after
diagnosis;
* extending maternity choice to include
pre-conception, antenatal, and postnatal care;
* choice of
treatment and provider in mental health services;
* improving
the choice of end of life care, moving towards a national choice
offer in the future to support those who wish to die at home.
Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley said:
"The first principle of the White Paper is that the NHS
should ensure that for patients, "no decision about me,
without me" is the invariable practice. To realise this
means patients must have more say and more choice. Today, I am
publishing two documents - on an information strategy for the NHS
and on extending patient choice, which will make this a reality.
"We want to go further than simply offering people a
choice of hospital. Patients should have choice at every stage of
the journey - where they register with a GP, where they go for
tests, who they see for treatment, and what care or treatment they
receive from any willing provider. Above all, they should be able
to change these choices at any stage.
"Patients and service users should be in control and
involved as much as they want to be in every decision about what,
where, how and from whom they want to receive care. By giving
people real choice over their care, we can build a patient-centred
NHS that achieves outcomes for patients that are among the best in
the world."
The Government also set out how the NHS will lead an information
revolution, arming people with comprehensive information and data
on all aspects of their health and adult social care so they can
take control and make informed decisions. The information
revolution starts from the premise the primary use of information
is to support the giving of high quality care. The most important
source of data is therefore the patient or service user's
care record with data recorded once at the point of care. Our
consultation Liberating the NHS: An Information Revolution makes
clear how people should be given more control over their care
records, and how the quality of care provided will improve as a
consequence of releasing more data, such as on mixed-sex wards and
infection rates.
Director General for Informatics Christine Connelly said:
"We live today in an information rich environment. The
information we have changes our perspective and influences the
decisions we make each and every day. The time has come to apply
these principles to the delivery of health and care services.
Building from a base of accurate care records the Information
Revolution will deliver more informed patients, more engaged
professionals, more efficient organisations and, ultimately,
improved outcomes."
The Department of Health is also today publishing a summary of
the response - over 5,400 responses - to the consultation on
enabling people to register with the GP practice of their choice.
The White Paper set out our aim to ensure that patients have the
power to choose a GP practice that is right for them and their
families, regardless of where they live.
The responses to the consultation clearly show that the public
fully support this and want to have a greater say in their health
care. A number of issues have been identified that will now need
to be worked through and discussed with GPs, both as prospective
commissioners and healthcare providers. We will set out the
changes necessary to provide patients with a real choice of GP
practice early next year.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
1. The Choice consultation can be found at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_119651
2. The consultation Liberating the NHS: An Information Revolution
can be found at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_120080
3. The summary of responses to the consultation on enabling
people to register with the GP practice of their choice can be
found at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Responsestoconsultations/DH_120283
4. The following organisations have welcomed the consultations:
A spokesperson for the Race Equality Foundation said:
"The Race Equality Foundation recognises the major
challenges faced by the NHS to do more and better in improving the
health of the nation and we welcome the forthcoming consultations
which will provide a real opportunity for all to contribute to
helping the NHS improve health outcomes for all communities."
A spokesperson for NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and
Community Action) said:
"Patients need the best possible information if they are
to be able to exercise choice and control over their care.
Therefore, we welcome the Department of Health's decision
to consult on this issue. We are particularly keen to ensure that
strategies are put in place to engage with the most excluded
individuals and groups in our communities. Local voluntary
organisations and community groups are ideally placed to play a
key role in helping those who need support to exercise meaningful choices."
A spokesperson from Men's Health Forum said:
"At Men's Health Forum we welcome the
consultations on Choice and Information. Both of these areas are
key to patient experience and when taken together with some of the
other proposals, have the potential to help to reduce health inequalities."
5. For media queries only, please call the Department of Health
Newsdesk on 020 7210 5221.
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk