Policy archive
The National Health Service Constitution
The NHS Constitution will establish the principles and values of the NHS in England. The draft consultation sets out commitments to patients, public and staff in the form of rights, pledges and responsibilities.
All NHS bodies, private and third sector providers supplying NHS services will be required by law to take account of the Constitution in their decisions and actions. The Constitution will be renewed every ten years.
NHS Constitution Key Points:
- The NHS provides a comprehensive service available to all
- Access to NHS services is based on clinical need, not an individual’s ability to pay
- The NHS aspires to high standards of excellence and professionalism
- NHS services must reflect the needs and preferences of patients, their families and their carers
- The NHS works across organizational boundaries and in partnership with other organizations in the interest of patients, local communities and the wider population
- The NHS is committed to providing best value for taxpayers’ money and the most effective and fair use of finite resources
- The NHS is accountable to the public, communities and patients that it serves
Visit the Department of Health website for further information on the constitution.
NHS Next Stage Review, Final Report (including the NHS Constitution)
Launched 30
th June 2008
The report’s key theme is turning the NHS into a system of care provision that is clinically led, patient-centred, and locally determined. It identified three key areas for change: improving the quality and the safety of care, and the placement of choice as a major determinant of treatment options. To ensure that patient choice is given due account in service provision, it is given formal recognition in the NHS constitution.
Next Stage Review Key Points
- A Medical Director and Clinical Advisory Board in every Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and a Quality Observatory in every region, combined with a duty on SHAs to support innovation with a new £150 million innovation fund
- An emphasis on primary and community care services, and the modification of the Quality of Framework (QoF) points and the GP contract
- Expanding the role of NICE to set and approve more independent quality standards, including developing an NHS evidence service
- Guaranteed patient access to NICE approved drugs
- A restatement of the commitment to Care plans for everyone with long-term conditions
- Extending patient choice of GP (via the NHS Constitution)
- Commitment to pilot the Fit for Work programme
- Stronger clinical engagement in commissioning
- More autonomy for high performing Primary Care Trusts
- Frontline staff to get more control over decision-making, empowering them to improve the quality of care at a local-level , and creating an environment that fosters good leadership skills
- Introduction of an NHS leadership model, that will be included in the undergraduate curriculum for nurses and doctors
- For senior doctors, the current Clinical Excellence Awards Scheme will be strengthened, to reinforce quality improvement
Visit the Department of Health website for a full copy of the Next Stage Review
Integrated Care
BSR has been working with the NHS Alliance, and colleagues from other organisations, on integrated care. The NHS Alliance is a collaboration of clinicians, managers and board members. It is an independent body that represents NHS primary care.
The document “Integrated Healthcare: from aspiration to implementation” sets out a vision of integrated care, as well as responding to the NHS Next Stage Review. It compliments the work that is also being undertaken by the Royal College of Physicians with their “Teams without Walls” initative.
Visit the NHS Alliance website for a full copy of Integrated Healthcare