Patient Choice
The NHS belongs to the people.
It is there to improve our health and wellbeing, supporting us to keep mentally and physically well, to get better when we are ill and, when we cannot fully recover, to stay as well as we can to the end of our lives.
It works at the limits of science – bringing the highest levels of human knowledge and skill to save lives and improve health. It touches our lives at times of basic human need, when care and compassion are what matter most.
The NHS is founded on a common set of principles and values that bind together the communities and people it serves – patients and public – and the staff who work for it.
You can read more about what the NHS stands for in the NHS Constitution.
NHS North Yorkshire CCG patient choice policy statement
NHS North Yorkshire CCG is committed to giving patients greater choice and control over how they receive their health care, in line with the NHS Constitution and the NHS Choice Framework.
The CCG will work with referrers, including GPs, to ensure they are aware of patients’ right to choose, and that appropriate information is available at the point of referral to ensure that an informed choice can be made.
As set out in the NHS Constitution, you have a number of choices concerning care and treatment as a patient. These choices include:
- The right to choose your GP surgery, and to be accepted by that practice unless there are reasonable grounds to refuse, in which case you will be informed of those reasons
- The right to express a preference of using a particular doctor within your GP surgery, and for the surgery to try to comply
- The right to choose which hospital to go to if your GP refers you to see a specialist as defined in National Guidance
- The right to be involved in decisions about your healthcare and to be given the information you need to do this
These are not the only choices you can make. There are choices in your lifestyle, decisions about your treatment, and even the way in which you interact with doctors and other health professionals that can all affect your health.
To get the full benefit of the health service it is essential to give careful consideration of these other choices too.