Patients and members of the public may sit on official bodies overseeing doctors and hospitals under revised plans to reorganise the NHS being drawn up by the Government.

A growing number of patients are choosing private hospitals for their NHS treatment, latest figures from the Department of Health show, as the government's much-vaunted 'choice' agenda finally takes off

Fewer patients paid out of their own pocket for private hospital treatment last year as NHS waiting times fell and the economy began to falter

Patients and GPs were promised a bigger role in health services as plans for the biggest NHS shake-up in decades were unveiled.

Doctors' chief says England must follow Scots lead on NHS funding Published Date: 08 July 2008 By LYNDSAY MOSS HEALTH CORRESPONDENT ENGLAND must follow Scotland in the way it funds health services, by shunning the private sector and not forcing competition into the NHS, the leader of the UK's doctors said yesterday. Dr Hamish Meldrum, the chairman of the British

Ministers do not "fully understand" the consequences of increasing the amount of money NHS hospitals can earn from private patients, an MP says.

NHS hospitals in England will be free to use almost half their hospital beds and theatre time for private patients under government plans.

The Department of Health says attempts to discourage primary care trusts from running community hospitals and services will create 'real opportunities' for the private sector

Patients are being put at risk by European laws that allow potentially incompetent foreign doctors to work in the NHS while undermining training in Britain, some of the country's most senior doctors warn.

John Rentoul rightly flags up the story in this morning’s FT that about 100,000 NHS patients have gone private and had the state pick up the tab, the private hospitals have had to agree to do the work at the NHS price. For those of us who would like to see the NHS move towards a model where the state pays for healthcare but it is provided by a whole panoply of providers, this is an encouragi...