NHS Constitution - Have your say

NHS Constitution

NHS Constitution Consultation

The NHS Constitution was published on 21 January 2009 which set out a ten year plan to provide the highest quality of care and service for patients in England. The purpose of this is to bring together in one place, what staff, patients and the public can expect from the NHS.

The Constitution will be legally binding from January 2010 following the Health Bill gaining Royal Assent in November 2009 and the PCT must ensure that it is:

  • Offering patients a choice of any clinically appropriate provider
  • If they are not offered a choice, and notify the PCT of this, the patient should be offered the choice of a clinically appropriate secondary care provider
  • Publicising and promoting awareness of information about secondary care providers to enable patients to make an informed choice of provider
  • Publicising and promoting patients’ entitlement to choice
  • Publicising procedures on how to complain if patients feel that the PCT has failed to ensure that choice is offered or fails to promote information about secondary care providers
  • Publishing and reporting to the SHA the number of complaints about patients not being offered choice or about a failure to publicise and promote information

Examples of what we can be doing to comply with the Constitution are as follows:

Ensuring patients get a choice of provider

  • Holding regular meetings with GP practices
  • Introducing a Locally Enhanced Service Agreement (LES) – an incentive to offer choice at referral
  • Choice at referral could be included in the Alternative Provider Medical Services (APMS) agreement with the new GP-led health centres as they are set up
  • Our complaints process may already mean that we adhere
  • The WCC competencies may mean that we adhere

Publicising and promoting information to inform choices

  • Adhering to the Standard NHS Acute Services Contract to provide accurate information about our services to enable patients to make choices
  • Promoting the NHS Choices website through links from our website
  • Promoting and publicising information on NHS Choices through 'Your Guide', making it available in libraries, working with the LA to make information available and working closely with patients who do not have internet access to ensure that information is accessible
  • Use approaches relevant for our local population e.g. hard to reach vulnerable patients, those who do not have English as their first language, making alternative versions available etc

Complaints

  • The majority of complaints are likely to be resolved through discussions with the original referrer

Publishing and promoting the right to choice and the right to information

  • Working closely with GP practices to encourage referrers to use NHS Choices and explain patients’ rights to them
  • Using media in GP surgeries, such as the Life Channel
  • Choice Communication toolkit – roadshows, local adverts and libraries and promotional campaigns emphasising the right to choice and information
  • Working closely with LAs to publicise and promote the new rights
  • Raise awareness of the rights to choice and information in 'Your Guide'

The Department of Health has now launched a consultation on the updated patient rights for the NHS Constitution.

The SHA is required to provide a summary of all consultation activities to the Department of Health by 25 January. They have asked that all communication leads within PCTs provide a report on the activities they have undertaken, ensuring it covers the requirements in the guidance to the SHA by close of play on 11 January 2010.

This consultation provides an ideal opportunity to promote and raise awareness of the NHS Constitution as a whole. In light of this, we must also provide information on how we have engaged with/plan to engage with stakeholders around the NHS Constitution as a whole.

Copies of the consultation document, the template for recording activities and a number of other supporting materials on the new rights are available at:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_108012

The consultation will close on 5 February 2010.