Patient Choice
Wider NHS Devon is committed to enabling patient choice as set out in the NHS Constitution.
Most patients also have the right to choose which hospital provider they are referred to.
Exceptions include emergency and urgent services and cancer services.
NHS Devon recognises that sometimes referrals are made outside the area that are not subject to patient choice and this results in Local NHS resource leaving Devon.
To maximise convenience for patients and investment in local services, NHS Devon actively promotes local referrals wherever a clinically equivalent service exists, though patient choice will be respected.
When do patients have a Right to Choice?
Under the NHS Constitution for England any person requiring a new elective referral from a GP, may choose any appropriate secondary care provider for their first consultant led outpatient appointment. The referral must be for a condition for which they have not already been referred or started a treatment pathway to a commissioned consultant led service. Where a patient has previously been discharged from care for the same condition a new referral would be appropriate. Additionally, the secondary care provider must be within England.
The vast majority (approximately 95%) of patients in Devon choose their local hospital.
The NHS Constitution covers both elective mental and physical health referrals. NHS Devon considers that in some circumstances the benefit to a patient of being treated by a provider close to home, in particular for mental health conditions, is desirable due to the availability of other supporting services and staff. Patients may wish to take this into account when choosing their provider.
In addition, ICBs may commission other services and treatments from a range of healthcare providers, for example services run by ‘Any Qualified Provider’, which allow for choice of provider to be offered outside of the NHS Constitution rights. In these circumstances NHS Devon will also support the right to choice for these services.
Choice does not mean that a patient can change the NHS Devon’s commissioning policies by seeking to extend the range of treatments the NHS is prepared to commission or fund for that patient or for patients generally.
Wider NHS Devon’s summary position on referrals can be found here.