A mere 44 per cent of patients could recall being offered a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment in May – down from 48 per cent in March – with provisional results for July showing a further decline to 43 per cent.

An even smaller proportion of patients were aware before visiting their GP that they had the right to be offered a choice of at least four hospitals. Just 38 per cent were aware of this right, although that figure for May is one percentage point up on March.

However, of those who were aware of their right to choose, only 63 per cent remember being offered a choice, a drop from 63 per cent on the March figure.

The Healthcare Commission, the NHS inspectorate, said this week that choice was the national NHS target that was being missed the most, with 2 per cent of primary care trusts in March achieving the indicators on which the effectiveness of patient choice is measured.

From:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6ce095c6-7ea9-11dc-8fac-0000779fd2ac.html

Nearly two years ago Health Direct posted, January 02, 2006 Choose and Book- your new right for NHS treatment

Most patients in England gain a historic new right this week – to be treated in a private hospital at National Health Service expense. The arrival of “patient choice” – the right to choose, initially from at least four hospitals, and by 2008 from any hospital prepared to meet NHS standards and prices – is a symbolic moment in the Labour government’s endeavour to use market forces to drive up health service performance.

Though quite how this policy will actually work in practise- with the introduction of the Choose and Book IT disaster- which it is currently hoped that it will be delivered 12 months late in December 2006, is anyone’s guess.