NHS Constitution
An NHS Constitution for England was launched in January 2009.
It brings together existing rights and legal entitlements in one document and explains how users of NHS services can exercise their rights as well as understanding their responsibilities.
The Constitution includes:
- A right of people to make choices about care and to information to help exercise that choice
- A right making explicit entitlement to drugs and treatments that have been recommended by NICE for use in the NHS, if a doctor says they are clinically appropriate
- A right to expect local decisions on funding of other drugs and treatments to be made rationally following a proper consideration of the evidence
- Rights to complaint and redress
The constitution also contains a range of pledges from the NHS, to help people make the most of services and to development appropriate services.
Producing a constitution was one of the recommendations of Lord Darzi's review of the NHS. The document will be reviewed every ten years.
Message from NHS Chief Executive
In a message to all NHS staff, David Nicholson, NHS Chief Executive, wrote,
"I'd ask you to familiarise yourself with both your own rights and pledges and those of patients, so that you are ready for discussions with patients later in the year when we begin a programme of engagement with them and the wider public.
"My hope is that the Constitution will form the basis of a new relationship between staff and patients - a relationship based on partnership, respect and shared commitment - where all parties know what they can expect from the NHS and what is expected from them."
- Find out more
- Government policy
- England
- Scotland
- Wales
- Northern Ireland
