NHS Trusts to promote their services to the public
pharmafile | March 25, 2008 | News story | Medical Communications |Â Â Â
All patients needing routine hospital care will soon be able to choose from any approved NHS trust in the country.
The move builds on existing patient rights and will drive up competition between NHS trusts and organisations, aided by government plans to allow them to advertise services to the public for the first time.
Patients have had a choice of at least four hospitals for elective surgery since January 2006 and ministers say the expansion, which is effective from the beginning of April, will help further improve the health service and empower its users.
Minister for Health Services Ben Bradshaw said: "Choice is fundamental to the delivery of a personalised NHS. People would like to have more control and be more involved in the decisions about their illness and treatment. More choice will also help drive up quality and standards across the NHS."
Providers will be able to advertise their services and a series of NHS branded advertisements will run in regional newspapers and on regional radio.
These are intended to raise awareness of choice and to help patients make informed decisions about their selection of provider.
The advertising and promotional activity will be regulated by a new code of practice, which the Department of Health says will balance the needs of patients, health professionals and the public.
The new code is largely based on the existing guidelines of the Advertising Standards Agency, who will oversee the regulation. Any item carrying an NHS logo will be subject to scrutiny, with the aim of protecting the health service's brand.
But the British Medical Association, though owning to be in favour of patient choice, is opposed to the move for a number of reasons.
It believes that the true framework needed to allow patients to make an informed choice, and proper access to reliable data is just not available, and that patients are better guided by their doctors.
Dr Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the BMA's Consultants Committee, said: "We are however most concerned that this will divert desperately needed funds from patient care into the coffers of advertising agencies."
The association said that some local services could be at threat of collapse under a loss of funding if patients opt for a different provider, which could threaten crucial emergency services.
