The NHS Constitution lacks clout

The NHS Constitution for England brings together the principles, values, rights and responsibilities underpinning the NHS. It sets out the features of the NHS as a comprehensive and equitable health service, empowering patients, staff and the public to know and exercise their rights in helping to drive improvements in quality, efficiency and responsiveness throughout the NHS (Department of Health (DH), 2015a). In July, the Report on the Effect of the NHS Constitution (DH, 2015b) was presented to parliament. The Secretary of State is required to ensure that the impact of the Constitution is regularly assessed and understood, reporting on the effect of the Constitution on patients, staff, carers and members of the public every 3 years. The NHS Constitution was introduced as a requirement of the Health Act 2009.

There has been a stream of initiatives produced to generate public awareness regarding rights and entitlements associated with the NHS. In 1991, a UK Government document The Patient's Charter (DH, 1991) was introduced, which set out a number of rights for NHS patients. Originally introduced in 1991, under the then Conservative Government, it went through a number of iterations and was revised in 1995 and 1997. The Patient's Charter was just that: a charter for patients with little if any reference to staff, whereas the current NHS Constitution (DH, 2015c) sets out the rights to which patients, public and staff are entitled. The UK Government quietly abandoned the Patient's Charter early in 2001, the charter represented undeliverable standards and the Government had to cancel it. The NHS Constitution for England replaced the Patient's Charter in 2013 (DH, 2013).