‘Tell patients their right to pick provider’
New figures from a Care Quality Commission (CQC) study underline the importance of NHS patients being made aware of their rights to choose private providers, according to the Independent Healthcare Providers Network (IHPN).
The organisation was reacting to the CQC’s 2022 adult inpatients survey where four-in-ten patients reported their health had deteriorated while they waited to be admitted.
IHPN chief executive David Hare said the finding drove home the impact that growing waiting lists were having on patients and their quality of life
He said: ‘With 7.6m people on the growing waiting lists and with winter in full view and the inevitable pressure that it always brings, with more patients likely to be cancelled or postponed, we need to be pulling on every lever at our disposal to bring the waiting lists down.
‘The independent sector stands ready to increase its support of the NHS. There is capacity to deliver more high-quality care and we are committed to working with the NHS to get patients the treatment they need as quickly as possible.’
Mr Hare added that many patients were often unclear they had the right to choose a provider to deliver their NHS care.
