Any hospital as long as it is the one next door

From the Guardian: " Labour's health policy giving people the right to choose between NHS hospitals in England is regarded by most patients as irrelevant, the government's health watchdog will disclose this week.

"The Healthcare Commission found the issues people regard as most important are whether they have confidence in a hospital's doctors and nurses, whether staff answer questions clearly and whether they wash their hands after contact with a patient before they touch another."

This is scary stuff, it appears that people are not interested in travelling 50 miles to get their operations at a slightly better hospital, they would rather the one next door was up to scratch...

Of course the whole choice agenda underpins the current NHS care marketisation. A similar report was removed from the DH website last year after they figured just how embarrasing it was for Labour's flagship policy.

Stuart