The NHS has confirmed a new appointment rule effective from July, requiring that patients receive at least three weeks' notice for all new planned medical appointments. The announcement, made by NHS Chief Executive Sir Jim Mackey, aims to address longstanding frustrations with communication and referral processes within the health service.
New Standards for Patient Communication
Under the new rules, patients will receive clear confirmation via the NHS App when their referral from a GP has been accepted by a hospital specialist and they have been added to the waiting list. Sir Jim Mackey stated: “Almost everyone has a story in their family about how navigating the NHS has been like walking through treacle, including cases where patients aren’t even sure if they’ve been referred, which is clearly unacceptable.”
He added: “If we want to keep improving patients’ experiences and satisfaction with the NHS, we have to fix the basics – and that starts with how we treat people even before they arrive for their treatment. Our communication with patients needs to be clear and easy to understand. We have to get away from making patients ask us multiple times to get the information they need, and start delivering five-star customer service.”
Minimum Standards for Patient Experience
Mackey emphasized that these standards are “by no means revolutionary” but represent “simple and clear standards that should be the bare minimum the public can expect from our services.” He noted that while staff across the country have driven progress in patient experience, there remains a long way to go. “Needing medical care is stressful enough, and through all the work to join up our data and invest in digital technology, we are building a modern NHS fit for the future and able to make life much easier for patients to access the care they need,” he said.
Labour Party Health and Social Care Secretary James Murray also commented: “For too long, patients have been left chasing the NHS for basic information on their treatment. That’s not good enough. These new patient standards are the bare minimum and things the health service should already be providing patients: clear confirmation when you’re referred, regular updates while you wait, and proper notice before your appointment. This is the floor, not the ceiling, but will drive up standards as we rebuild the NHS.”
Modernising Patient Care
Murray highlighted that the standards form part of the government’s broader effort to modernise patient care, including connecting every Trust to the NHS App and introducing a Single Patient Record to prevent patients from having to repeat their story at every turn.
William Pett, Interim Director of Policy & External Affairs at Healthwatch England, welcomed the announcement: “We welcome the publication of these standards as a clear signal from NHS leaders that high-quality customer service matters as much to patients as the length of their wait. For too long, patients have told us about referral letters going missing, delayed appointment letters or feeling forgotten about altogether for months on end without news of when they will be seen.”
Challenges in Implementation
Pett also cautioned about implementation: “The real challenge will be to ensure these standards are delivered. We urge trusts to upskill and enable their admin teams to deliver better service and reduce the burden on patients in chasing for updates. Annual self-assessment by trusts of their progress in meeting these standards should also go hand in hand with gathering public views on whether the NHS is meeting its goal of smoother, clearer and more supportive journeys for people referred for planned care.”
