‘Patchy’ NHS Constitution needs improving

pharmafile | November 7, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing DoH, Future Forum, NHS, commissioning 

The NHS Future Forum has criticised the NHS Constitution for not being up to scratch and suggested ‘essential steps’ to improve it.

Professor Steve Field, chair of the independent group of the country’s top health experts, warned in a letter to health secretary Jeremy Hunt that: “despite the importance and potential of the NHS Constitution, its effect so far has been patchy”.

To improve matters, three things have to happen, the Forum says:

  • awareness must be raised ‘dramatically’ among the public, patients and NHS staff
  • there has to be greater clarity about what happens when the NHS falls short of people’s rights or expectations
  • content needs updating and reinforcing.

The Forum put together its recommendations after conversations with patient groups, NHS staff, professional bodies and the voluntary sector, as well as with patients themselves and via monitoring conversations on social media.

Accepting the recommendations, the government has opened a new consultation on the proposals: closing date for comments is 28 January 2013, with a revised version of the constitution published by next April.

The Forum is particularly concerned that the Constitution’s content should be beefed-up in the following areas:

  • involving patients in decisions about their care
  • supporting staff
  • encouraging feedback and a more open working culture
  • how information is used and protected
  • ‘making every contact count,’ so that doctors take every opportunity to talk to patients about improving their health.

The Department of Health says it will work with the NHS Commissioning Board, Health Education England and the new clinical commissioning groups on ways to promote the Constitution.

On the Forum’s issue about making it clearer on what happens when the NHS falls short of people’s expectations, the government says it is “currently considering this and will announce next steps soon”.

However, the new-look Constitution will contain a new ‘duty of candour’ pledge to patients, where NHS staff must be open with them if mistakes are made – and this is also a condition in the NHS Standard Contract from April 2013.

Other proposed changes cover the responsibility of staff to treat patients with care, compassion, dignity and respect, and there is a new pledge making it explicit that patients can expect to sleep in single-sex wards.

The government said this should make it clearer that patients, their families and carers should be fully involved in care and treatment, including their end of life care.

It will also clarify that the NHS is equally concerned about physical and mental health, the Department of Health said.

Adam Hill

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