Guidance

Handbook to the NHS Constitution for England

Information about the rights and pledges in the NHS Constitution and what these mean for NHS patients and staff.

• From: Department of Health and Social Care
• Published: 27 July 2015
• Last updated: 24 January 2025
  Show all updates

  1. 24 January 2025

     The Health Act 2009 requires the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to carry out a review of the Handbook to the NHS Constitution for England every 3 years. The last review was carried out in January 2022. The handbook has now been updated to ensure that it reflects changes to the law, the healthcare system and the current supports available to NHS users.

  2. 1 October 2023

     In the section ‘Patients and the public: your rights and the NHS pledges to you’, we have updated the government’s pledges on cancer waiting times standards, agreed between NHS England and DHSC following proposals recommended in the Clinical Standards Review of cancer standards in August 2023. We have also updated the definition of the standard under 'More information on the 31-day cancer waiting time'.

  3. 17 August 2023

     Updated the 'Making a complaint' section to add a link to current guidance on the NHS website and amend the contact DHSC information.

  4. 27 January 2022

     The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has a statutory duty to review the Handbook to the NHS Constitution every 3 years. The handbook has been updated throughout following the 2022 review, and is published in conjunction with an updated version of the NHS Constitution.

  5. 15 November 2021

     Edited ‘Feedback on the handbook’ section to remove a call centre that has closed. Also updated ‘Accessing reciprocal planned treatment’ section to reflect new agreements after Brexit.

  6. 4 February 2021

     Changed 'EU GDPR' to 'UK GDPR' throughout.

  7. 1 January 2021

     Changes to 'Rights and pledges covering access to health services'. Changes to rules on organ donation. Contact details updated for 'Feedback on the handbook'

  8. 28 October 2019

     Published HTML document to replace pdf.

  9. 14 January 2019

     Updated with 2019 edition of the handbook to the NHS Constitution. Removed the document 'Addendum to the NHS Constitution: September 2017' as this information has been incorporated into the new edition of the handbook.

  10. 7 September 2017

      Added an addendum to the NHS Constitution handbook.

  11. 27 July 2015

      First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Handbook to the NHS Constitution for England

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Details

As a result of the EU Exit transition period ending on 31 December 2020, the rules changed regarding UK residents’ access to healthcare in the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

New agreements came into force from autumn 2021, and the NHS Constitution for England was updated accordingly.

This handbook is designed to give the public, patients, carers, families and NHS staff all the information they need about the NHS Constitution for England.

The handbook covers:

• NHS values and the principles that guide the NHS
• explanations of the rights and pledges in the NHS Constitution
• legal sources of patient and staff rights
• the roles we all play in protecting and developing the NHS