The framework brings together information about patients rights to choice in healthcare, where to get more information to help them make a choice, and how they can complain if they have not been offered choice.
In some circumstances, the patient has legal rights to choice and must be given these choices by law. In other circumstances, they do not have a legal right to choice but should be offered choice about their care, depending on whats available locally.
Published 29 April 2016 Last updated 15 February 2024 +show all updates
Updated contact details for NHS England in 'NHS Choice Framework'.
In the second paragraph of section 8 in the HTML attachment, added 'Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein' to the text that reads 'in an EU country or Switzerland', to reflect changes that came into force on 1 January 2024.
Changes have been made throughout the NHS Choice Framework to clarify what choices are available to patients and when these rights apply.
Details for contacting NHS Improvement have been added to section 13.
Changes have been made throughout the NHS choice framework to clarify what choices are available to patients and when these rights apply. Chapters 2 and 9 have had the most changes made.Substantial changes have been made to chapter 9, section 3, to make it clear that some people will not be able to directly manage a personal health budget and that a decision on if this is appropriate will be made following a discussion with the individual's healthcare professional.
