HC Deb 17 December 2003 vol 415 cc988-9W
Mr. Blizzard

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information will be provided to enable patients to choose health care providers under the Choice and Plurality policies. [140619]

Mr. Hutton

Patients will require information on waiting times, convenience, patient experience and clinical quality to support their choice of hospital for elective surgery. nhs.uk already provides information on waiting times and star ratings. We will develop this site to provide a wider range of information to support choice. Primary care trusts will be asked to ensure that appropriate information is also made available in hard copies and in forms which are accessible by individuals with sensory impairments.

Mr. Blizzard

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the possible impact of institutional resistance on the implementation of the Choice and Plurality policies. [140621]

Mr. Hutton

Increasing patient choice will require a change in culture for national health service staff and indeed, for patients. Staff and patients are broadly supportive of the principle of extending patient choice. However, we need to work closely with staff and patients on the detailed implementation of our patient choice policies to ensure that we retain that support. The new financial framework, Payment by Results, will provide new incentives to providers to attract patients. Our plurality policies will help secure the capacity needed to deliver the improved waiting times patients expect, and will allow a greater range of choices for patients. The biggest safeguard against any institutional resistance, however, is likely to be the attitude of the patients themselves. The experience from London and other choice pilots is that once offered choice over where and when their treatment is provided, many patients exercise these new opportunities.

Mr. Blizzard

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures will be put in place to extend choice of health care provider to patients who live in isolated rural communities. [140623]

Mr. Hutton

We recognise that patients in isolated rural communities may find it more difficult to access the same range of choices as others. We are exploring options for primary care trusts to provide greater support for patients living in more isolated rural communities. These could include peripatetic patient care advisers, the use of mobile service, for example, the mobile cataract surgery service being introduced in many areas from the spring of 2004. We will be including rural representatives of patients, patient groups and local authorities in these discussions, so that they are able to influence the Department's final policy guidance on choice at referral.

Mr. Blizzard

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the percentage occupancy rate of in-patient care which would need to be maintained to provide the capacity to enable patients to choose a health care provider. [140625]

Mr. Hutton

We are investing in substantial and sustainable increases in national health service capacity to improve quality and allow us to deliver the shorter waiting times patients expect. Choice of hospital for patients requiring elective surgery will be introduced alongside this additional capacity. By December 2005, patients will choose at the point of general practitioner referral, so patient choice will not be directly dependent on the inpatient occupancy rate.