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Patients Rights

For centuries, patients have been relatively content to relegate the management of their healthcare to professionals. However, the growing number of older people in the population, coupled with a gradual rise in the incidence of chronic disease, has elevated both costs and demand to the point at which policymakers are having to ration healthcare services. Fiscal austerity measures within the healthcare system are altering the very nature of healthcare provision.

A survey conducted by The Patients Association in 2005 revealed that members of the public want to know far more about the quality of the healthcare providers, the treatments they are offered and the healthcare options that are available to them. The report, The Public Perception of Patients Rights Within the UK NHS highlights that people believe they have the right to receive this information they do not. The survey reports that a significant minority of people are also unable to exert the few legal rights that patients do have such as the right to access personal medical records, and the right to make a complaint.

One particular problem identified by this survey is that a considerable body of patients are reluctant to confront their doctor if faced with an unhappy healthcare situation. Too many of the public also appear suspicious of the medical profession, and doubtful of the willingness of doctors to work on behalf of patients best interests. Yet, a minority of articulate and knowledgeable patients are able to gain access to the NHS services they believe they need. These differences in attitude are, in part, contributing to the ever-widening gap in health among the UK population.

To download the report The Public Perception of Patients Rights Within the UK, please visit our Research Publications page or click here.

In 2006 The Patients Association continued its work on Patients' Rights with further research and its November report Should the NHS Take More Account of Patients' Rights?. The survey asked Patient and Public Involvement Health Forums, senior executives and trustees of national health organisations and health campaigners a range of questions relating to patients rights.

This report focused on the patient perspective of NHS services and patients' current and future rights. More than half of the report's participants stated that the NHS was not doing a good job for their constituency with the highest dissatisfaction amongst mental health groups. A majority felt that patients were not able to exercise all of their rights within the NHS and in particular there were complaints over the lack of choice of hospital from many mental health and London-based groups.

Strong arguments to emerge from the report include patients needing more information, guaranteed standards of care and equitable treatment throughout the NHS. A particularly interesting issue to arise from the survey was that more than half of participants disagreed with 'postcode prescribing'.

To download the report Should the NHS Take More Account of Patients' Rights?, please visit our Research Publications page or click here.

Following the publication the Patients Association held a breakfast meeting on 8th November with NHS Stakeholders to consider the results of our second report on Patients Rights. In response to this survey the Patients Association met with stakeholders from across the health sector, including the Department of Health to discuss issues what rights and responsibilities patients should have, how these can be accessed and whether minimum standards should apply to ensure patients rights. The meeting saw intense debate on what patients can and should expect and the Patients Association will use the ideas and information from the breakfast meeting together with the report to form the basis of our upcoming work on rights within healthcare.

Following the publication of the full report and the information gathered at the Breakfast Meeting senior staff from the Patients Association met with the main political parties to discuss the findings and provide information for upcoming policy reviews.