Giving people more choice is a priority of the modern NHS. This is because research in the UK and overseas has shown that treatments are more effective if patients choose, understand and control their care.
Your choices include:
- The right to choose a GP and to change to another if you're not happy with the service you receive.
- The right to choose which hospital to go to if your GP refers you to see a specialist.
- The right to be involved in decisions about your healthcare and to be given the information you need to do this.
For a full list of your guaranteed choices within the NHS go to Rights and pledges.
These aren't the only choices you can make. There are choices in your lifestyle, decisions about your treatment, and even the way in which you interact with doctors and other health professionals that can all affect your health .
To get the full benefit of the health service it's essential to give careful consideration to these other choices too.
Lifestyle choices can have a greater impact on our long-term health than any other choices.
There is no magic pill to protect us from heart disease, stroke and cancer, the three conditions responsible for the majority of early deaths in the UK. However, by choosing to live more healthily, especially doing more exercise and improving our diet, we can reduce the risk of premature death from one of these illnesses.
We can also influence the health of people close to us through our own lifestyle choices. As parents, in particular, we can help to improve the health of our children. Simple measures, such as walking instead of travelling by car or reducing the amount of salt and fat you add to food, can have a significant effect on your health over time.
Our health isn't fixed or predetermined. The lifestyle choices we make each day may seem insignificant, but they add up. Over decades they can make the difference between a long life or a shorter one, a happy and active old age or a difficult and restricted one.
Finally, don’t avoid changing your lifestyle simply because you think it might be difficult. It's true that bad habits can be difficult to break but, once established, good habits can be easy to maintain. For example, give up sugar in tea today and you may find it difficult for the first 10 cups with no sugar, but if you persevere you'll probably never drink a cup of tea with sugar in again.
This website contains information on adopting and leading a healthy lifestyle. For more information visit:
- Live Well: hundreds of evidence-based articles, videos and tips on leading a healthier lifestyle.
- Tools library: healthy weight calculators, five-a-day planners, a fitness widget and many other interactive health aids.
- Video library: hundreds of inspiring videos on all aspects of leading a healthy lifestyle.
For some medical complaints a doctor will recommend a single straightforward treatment. A course of antibiotics for an inner-ear infection, for example.
But for many conditions there is no single treatment. Instead, you and your doctor will have a range of options to choose from. In this case, what's best for you will be influenced by a number of factors, some medical, others more personal.
For example, you may need to consider the benefits of one or more drugs against their side effects, or choose between having an operation that has serious risks and living with the discomfort of the condition.
When faced with complicated and often frightening health issues, it can be difficult to remember that we have a right to be involved in decisions about our treatment and care. NHS doctors have a duty to inform us about the options available and will advise us what they think is best. But it's you, the patient, who must decide whether a treatment is right for you.
Making the most of treatment choices requires careful thought and research. You're more likely to make the right decision if you learn more about the options available to you and the experiences of others.
The NHS Choices website helps patients in this area by providing tools and information. The resources include:
- Health A-Z. Use the treatment pages of the Health A-Z to see the common treatment options for particular conditions and find links to specialist charities and patient groups in each area.
- Map of Medicine. Available through the Health A-Z topic pages, the map of medicine shows the ideal treatment pathway for each condition as agreed by medical experts and enables you to check your options.
- Medicines A-Z. A list of licensed medicines, including side effects. You can search by medicine name or see a condition-specific list of medicines through the Health A-Z topic pages.
- Scorecard. Use this tool to compare hospitals according to a range of performance measures and facilities. You can view your results by treatment type.
- Choose and Book. The online service that allows you to book your own hospital appointments.
Dealing with health professionals
How we interact with NHS professionals can make a difference to our experience of the health service.
The NHS promises to involve patients in decisions about all aspects of their healthcare. Research has shown that involving patients in healthcare decisions improves the success of the treatment. Indeed, doctors expect and welcome questions from their patients.
Many people don't prepare before they see their doctor. This can mean you don't get the information and help you need from an appointment, and it can be frustrating for the person you're seeing.
Spending 10 minutes before the appointment writing down what you'd like to communicate and the questions you'd like answered can transform both the appointment and your relationship with the person you're meeting.
For more tips on dealing with NHS professionals and understanding the services available, go to:
- Questions to ask your doctor. Download this checklist as a reminder for your next appointment.
- Your choices. Simple tips, including how to choose a GP who meets your needs and how to make a complaint when things go wrong.
- Rights and pledges. What you can and should expect from the NHS, including your right to combine private and NHS care and to receive drugs and treatments that have been recommended by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence).
- Choose and Book. The online service that allows you to book your own hospital appointments.
