Patient Choice

Right to Choose Physical Health

Giving patients greater choice and control over how they receive their health care is an important commitment of the NHS and is a patients legal right in line with the NHS Constitution.

This means, for some services, patients can choose who they wish to provide their healthcare and may consider factors important to them when making this decision e.g. waiting times, GP advice and ease of access, past experience with their chosen provider, quality of the service and if their appointment is Face-to-Face or non-Face-to-Face.

However, the rules relating to Patient Choice can be confusing for both patients and health practitioners as there are certain circumstances when choice does not apply. For instance, Patient Choice does not apply to maternity, cancer or diagnostic services or where a patient requires emergency or urgent care and when there is an Interface Service in place*.

Understanding when Patient Choice applies and the extent to which patients exercise their right to this meaningfully may not always be clear. To help improve this, the ICB has produced a simplified Patient Choice process guide (for Physical Health only) which can support both patients and health practitioners when determining whether or not Patient Choice applies and the route to follow when a referral is required.

Read the Patient Choice process guide: Non-Emergency Physical Health for more information.

Further resources relating to Patient Choice are available from NHS England.

*An Interface Service is a service which provides intermediate triage and assessment between Primary Care and Secondary Care and will offer Patient Choice where it applies.