Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of NHS England's Right to Choose policy.

The Government is committed to giving patients greater choice and control over their care. Patients have a legal right to choose where they go for their first appointment, when referred to consultant-led care as an outpatient.

Currently, however, less than a quarter of patients recall being offered a choice of provider. The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the work needed to empower patients with greater choice and control, in order to make informed choices. This includes making the NHS App and the Manage Your Referral website the default routes for patients to choose their provider, and improving the information available to patients to support their decision, such as improved waiting time information.