Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure the best quality of care for patients in circumstances where a clinical commissioning group commissions a service from only one provider and that provider has been assessed by the Care Quality Commission as requiring improvement.

The Department of Health NHS Choice Framework identifies the choices patients have. In some circumstances they have legal rights to choice and must be given these choices by law. In other circumstances there is no guaranteed right to choice however, depending on what is available locally, patients should be offered choice where possible.

If a person needs to be referred as an outpatient to see a consultant or specialist they may choose the organisation that provides their National Health Service care and treatment. They may choose whenever they are referred for the first time for an appointment for a physical or mental health condition, as appropriate. They may choose any organisation that provides clinically appropriate care for their condition that has been appointed by the NHS to provide that service. There are circumstances in which they may not choose, these are also set out in the document.

Individuals can talk to their general practitioner, dentist, optometrist or other person who is referring them for more information. They can also find out more information on the NHS Choices website about the organisations they can choose from, a link to which can be found here:

http://www.nhs.uk/pages/home.aspx

This is a national website for patients.

Additionally, commissioners have obligations to procure health care services from providers best placed to meet the needs of patients. If commissioners have concerns about the quality of health care services provided by any of its current providers then they may decide to procure services from alternative providers. More information about these obligations can be found at the following address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-patient-choice-and-competition-regulations-guidance