Hospital patients in England may get the right to be seen privately if the NHS cannot treat them quickly enough.
Hospitals have to start treating patients within 18 weeks of referral - or two weeks in the case of cancer.
But ministers now want to give patients a legal right to private care - or treatment at another NHS centre if so desired - if this does not happen.
The Tories, who would scrap waiting time targets, said it was an “unaffordable and uncosted” pledge.
Some patients - in fact several thousand a month - are already being treated at private hospitals under the NHS through the patient choice initiative.
At the start of the referral process, they are able to choose from an approved list of providers that are willing to carry out the treatment at NHS cost.
But this latest initiative, which will be announced by health secretary Andy Burnham this week, will allow patients to opt to switch to private care at a later date if it turns out the NHS cannot see them within the deadline.
Read more at BBC Health.
Tags: Private practice, Referral times
