It’s your care – YOU choose where

NHS Hull wants to make sure all patients are using and choosing when it comes to their health care. 

Patients in England can choose to be treated at almost any hospital they wish, regardless of location. This choice extends to many private hospitals as well as those run by the NHS. 

The latest National Patient Survey is being sent out this week to 3,000 patients who have been referred for hospital treatment over the last few months and NHS Hull hopes the results will help show how many patients are using their right to choose. 

Sally-Anne Hoggard is the Choice Manager for NHS Hull. She says: 

“Patients have had a choice of where they receive treatment for several years now, so we would ideally expect a large proportion of patients to know about Patient Choice and hopefully to be using their right to choose their preferred place of care. 

“The National Patient Choice Survey is sent to people who have been recently treated by the NHS to find out whether or not they were offered a choice of where to be treated. We want every patient to be offered choice when and where possible, so it is important to find out how well our providers are doing in terms of offering choice, and how well we are doing with regard to getting the ‘choice’ message out to patients.” 

To make it easier for people to decide where they want to be treated, the NHS Choices website contains useful information about hospitals and allows patients to compare several places in order to choose the one that is right for them. 

Sally-Anne continues: 

“We really want patients to take advantage of their right to choose where they are treated. Whether you want a hospital that is close to home or family, somewhere that you know has high standards of cleanliness, or somewhere with a short waiting list, you can choose. If you are not offered Choice, then ask for it.” 

Visit NHS Choices at www.nhs.uk