The right to select hospital is failing

By a staff reporter

Consultants are being denied patients in the private sector because less than half of the public are aware that they can choose where they receive their NHS-funded hospital treatment.

A new poll by Populus found widespread ignorance about treatment options – despite the legal right to patient choice having been in place for over a decade.

While NHS England has committed to ensuring that, by 2020, all patients are aware of the choices available to them when choosing their NHS treatment, just 48% of the public currently know of these legal rights.