Patients in need of a hip replacement or knee surgery will be able to choose from any NHS hospital from July.

Hip patients told: choose your NHS surgery - Sunday Telegraph

Extracts:

"Patients in need of a hip replacement or knee surgery will be able to choose from any NHS hospital from July.

The policy will be backed by a £15 million government website showing how hospitals compare on MRSA rates, waiting times, and cleanliness. The website, due to launch in the summer will also allow all patients to look up their conditions in a medical library, with information kite-marked by experts."

"The NHS will pay the travel costs of patients opting for hospitals far from home. But the Department of Health's own research shows choice has got off to a slow start. Findings published in November indicate only 30 per cent of patients believed their GP had told them of their right to choose."

"Vanessa Bourne, of the Patients' Association, welcomed attempts to give the public more health information, but she said it was vital to make sure that the elderly, the largest group using the NHS, did not lose out because some were not IT-literate."


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