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Article: Patients given hospitals choice
- Article from:
- Yorkshire Post
- Article date:
- March 29, 2008
CopyrightCopyright 2008 Yorkshire Post. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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PATIENTS will be able to select appointments at any hospital in
the country under a flagship Government initiative.
From April 1, patients referred to hospital by their GP will be
able to choose to go anywhere in England including a number of
private units.
Ministers have pressed for the move as part of efforts to give
patients more power.
They also hope it will put pressure on under-performing
hospitals to improve their services or risk losing patients to
rivals.
Surveys suggest hospitals with lower waiting times, lower rates
of hospital superbug infection including MRSA and better parking are
most likely to be attractive to patients although critics say
patients will still opt for the ...