NHS Constitution Consultation

The NHS in England is required to have a Constitution which establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. The existing Constitution sets out the principles, values, rights and pledges underpinning the NHS as a comprehensive health service, free at the point of use for those who need it (available here).

The Health Act 2009 provides that every 10 years the Secretary of State must carry out a review of the NHS Constitution and a wide range of groups must be consulted.

On 30 April 2024 the NHS released a short 8 week consultation on proposed changes to the NHS Constitution. The consultation is available here – scroll down).

A number of specific changes are proposed but two of the most striking are:

• The introduction of new rapid reviews for patients from outside the care team if the patient is deteriorating, following the tragic story of Martha Mills;
• The right to request that intimate care is carried out by someone of the same biological sex, where reasonably possible and a reinforced commitment to providing single-sex wards.

One new addition which deserves specific attention (perhaps for the wrong reasons) is the new NHS value of ‘Environmental responsibilities’ which reads as follows:

“We play our part in achieving legislative commitments on the environment. We do this by improving our resilience and efficiency, while always prioritising value for money. We will never compromise standards of care or the needs of patients in pursuit of these targets.”

But what does this actually mean in real terms? How is resilience going to help achieve our environmental commitments? Efficiency might mean less waste (an environmental plus) but does it mean that e.g. less environmentally friendly disposable items might nonetheless win the day if they are cheaper? Because one might be forgiven for thinking that what this word salad boils down to is more recycling bins in hospitals... The final sentence is a bit of a mystery too: does the NHS have a history of compromising standards of care or the needs of patients in pursuit of environmental targets?

Anyway, the consultation closes at 11.59pm on 25 June 2024, and you can respond via their online survey.

As everyone likes to say: the NHS belongs to us all.

This blog was written by - Samantha Broadfoot KC

Samantha is a public and administrative law silk, with a wide ranging practice, including in healthcare law. She is a contributor to the NHS Law book, and the second edition is due out in the autumn.