Hospital patients get a say

Jan 10 2006 By Emma Cullwick, Birmingham Mail

S PATIENTS in Worcestershire are being urged to exercise their new right to choose where and when they get hospital treatment.

The news comes as a Department of Health survey has revealed many people are unaware they can now choose between at least four hospitals or clinics for nonemergency treatment.

Ministers hope the reforms will cut waits and raise standards.

But a poll of more than 1,000 residents found 80 per cent knew little about the changes.

Gillian Entwistle, Acting Chief Executive at Redditch and Bromsgrove Primary Care Trust, said:

"The changes mark a new way of accessing secondary care.

"When a patient is referred by their GP to a specialist for further treatment, they will be provided with the information they need to make a choice about which hospital or clinic appointment is best for them.

"They can then book the appointment there and then, but patients also have the option to take away information about their local hospitals and make their choice later."

Patients can get information and book their appointment through various ways - including a new computer system, by phone, or on the internet.

Alan Tapsell, chairman of the Patient and Public Involvement Forum for Redditch and Bromsgrove, said: "This is excellent news for patients. However, choice will only work to the full if patients exercise their new rights to choose."

Vicky Preece, vice chairwoman of the Redditch and Bromsgrove Professional Executive Committee and a local nurse, said: "It will take some time for everybody to get used to patient choice, but I am confident that the benefits will be worth it."

But director at the Royal College of Nursing, Alison Kitson, said in reality GPs had insufficient time to research the information.

Popular hospitals would be overwhelmed, while unpopular ones could face closure, she warned.