{"id":525,"date":"2026-07-17T11:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surgerywebtemp.org.uk\/g81694\/?page_id=525"},"modified":"2026-07-17T11:00:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:00:36","slug":"right-to-choose","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/surgerywebtemp.org.uk\/g81694\/right-to-choose\/","title":{"rendered":"Right to Choose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rteBlock\"><strong>What is Right to Choose?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\">The national NHS Right to Choose (RTC) Framework allows NHS patients the ability to select their healthcare provider when receiving a referral from a GP or another designated professional for their initial or first appointment. This right applies provided the referral is for a clinically appropriate physical or mental health service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\"><strong>Which providers can a patient choose from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\">Patients are free to select any appropriate qualified provider across England if the provider is commissioned by the NHS in England to provide the service needed. This includes NHS organisations as well as private and independent providers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\"><strong>When does the right to choose apply?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\">Patients can exercise their right to choose when:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They receive an NHS referral for their initial or first appointment.<\/li>\n<li>A GP, dentist, or optometrist has made the referral.<\/li>\n<li>The service is led by a consultant (for both physical and mental health) or by a mental health professional (for mental health services only).<\/li>\n<li>The provider is commissioned by the NHS in England to provide the service needed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\"><strong>When does the right to choose not apply?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\">Exceptions to the right to choose include situations where:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the patient has self-referred.<\/li>\n<li>The patient needs urgent or emergency treatment.<\/li>\n<li>The patient is already receiving care and treatment for the condition.<\/li>\n<li>The organisation or clinical team they have chosen does not provide the right care for their condition.<\/li>\n<li>The patient is a prisoner or on temporary release from prison.<\/li>\n<li>The patient is detained in prescribed accommodation, such as a court, secure children&#8217;s home, secure training centre, immigration removal centre or young offender institution.<\/li>\n<li>The patient is detained in a secure hospital setting.<\/li>\n<li>The patient is a serving member of the armed forces.<\/li>\n<li>The patient is detained under the mental health act 1983<\/li>\n<li>The service is commissioned by a local authority outside of a joint commissioning agreement or is delivered through primary care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\"><strong>Will Right to Choose cover the cost of medication?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\">Yes, initially. At the end of the titration period, a Shared Care Protocol (SCP) is sent from the provider to the GP to consider taking over the prescribing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"rteBlock\">Patients who are accessing a private assessment and then wish their GP to take on shared care for a specialist treatment should have this discussion with the GP prior to referral, as not all GPs accept shared care prescribing. Patients should also be advised that they may need to fund follow up appointments with the specialist provider such as an annual review. There may be a situation where they need more regular specialist review e.g. if they experience side effects or complications that need more regular specialist input.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Right to Choose? The national NHS Right to Choose (RTC) Framework allows NHS patients the ability to select their healthcare provider when receiving&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-525","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/surgerywebtemp.org.uk\/g81694\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/surgerywebtemp.org.uk\/g81694\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/surgerywebtemp.org.uk\/g81694\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surgerywebtemp.org.uk\/g81694\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surgerywebtemp.org.uk\/g81694\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/surgerywebtemp.org.uk\/g81694\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/surgerywebtemp.org.uk\/g81694\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}