Patients to be offered faster treatment hundreds of miles away in bid to slash record waiting times 

Patients are being offered faster treatment hundreds of miles from home in an effort to reduce wait times.

The NHS has been told it needs to offer people alternative options, including traveling longer distances to avoid the biggest queues.

The new guidelines will allow patients to search details such as distance and current waiting times using the NHS app before deciding where they want to be referred.

GPs will also be closely monitored to ensure that patients are made aware of their right to choose.

As of today, those already frustrated with long wait times can transfer to a hospital with shorter lists if they wish.

Officials hope that ’empowering patients’ to shape their care will dramatically reduce the 7.3 million currently waiting for NHS treatment.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Currently, only one in ten patients make a choice about where they receive care. We want to change that by helping the NHS give patients real choice while also giving patients the information they need to decide.

‘Our aim is to create an NHS around patients, where everyone has more control over the care they receive, no matter where they live or whatever their health needs are.’

He added: “Enabling patients to choose where to receive treatment helps reduce waiting lists, one of my top five priorities.”

Despite being introduced nearly two decades ago, only one in ten patients currently exercise the right to choose where they are treated.

Under the new guidelines, those who have waited more than 40 weeks for treatment will be asked if they would like to be referred elsewhere, with bosses hoping to extend this to 18 weeks of waiting in time.

NHS hospitals with spare capacity will be asked to provide ‘mutual aid’ to those with the longest waiting times, reducing waiting times by an estimated three months. It is also expected that private hospitals will be used more to reduce waiting times.

Health and Social Care Minister Steve Barclay said the NHS app would help ‘swipe away months’ of people’s waiting times.

He said: ‘Millions of people downloaded the NHS app during the pandemic. Increasing use of this fantastic resource means they can make more choices and access vital information about their care options, including travel time, waiting time and quality of service – all with a swipe of a smartphone screen.

“Not only does this give patients more control over their own care, but it can also cut months off their waiting time by finding a hospital or clinic with a shorter waiting list.”

the 7.3 million currently awaiting NHS treatment. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Currently, only one in ten patients make a choice about where they receive care. We want to change that by helping the NHS give patients a real choice while also giving patients the information they need to decide.”

Patient and hospital groups welcomed actions to reduce waiting times, but warned it would risk ostracizing the elderly or less tech-savvy and would rely on GPs to relay choices to many.

Rachel Power, from the Patients’ Association, said: ‘We hope the planned communication campaign will clearly explain the choice and encourage people to take advantage of it.

‘We welcome news of the support GPs are receiving, but with the current pressure on GPs, it will be important that they are supported to work with their patients to increase acceptance of patient choice.’

NHS providers, representing NHS trusts, said improving patient choice ‘is not a panacea for the wider challenges facing the NHS as it tackles record waiting lists’.

Miriam Deakin, director of policy and strategy, said: ‘Some patients will like to have more choice about where they receive their care, but we know that others want to be treated closer to home as quickly as possible.

And while using technology to help patients gain better access to the care they need is positive, steps must also be taken to prevent digital exclusion, which could exacerbate health inequities that have been widening since the pandemic. has become deeper.’

NHS chief Amanda Pritchard said: ‘By giving patients more choice and more information about their care through the convenience of the NHS app, we can change the way people access treatment options, while also building on the fantastic work that already being done by NHS staff across the country to reduce the longest waiting times for care.’