King's Fund wants more choice for patients using NHS
services
A call for greater choice for patients using NHS services
has been made by the King's Fund.
In a report on the future of the NHS, the King's
Fund proposed that more choice for patients will help to drive up the
quality of services.
Areas in which patients could be given more choice
include the choice of a health care professional, treatment options, as
well as the location and timing of treatment. The report lamented the
fact that currently, patients have no say in the choice of a hospital.
Other recommendations in the report for reform in
the NHS include a new legislative framework that will reduce the involvement
of Government in the day-to-day running of the NHS and a more permanent
separation of the organisations that deliver health care from the central
Government.
King's Fund chief executive, Rabbi Julia Neuberger
said: "The whole of the NHS should be freed from political control of
its day-to-day workings. Local NHS organisations should be able to manage
their assets without interference from the centre and without the constant
threat of reorganisation. They should be accountable directly to the people
they serve, both locally and through Parliament. And they should be able
to offer patients genuine choices about how they are treated."
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