Patient Choice Schemes
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what arrangements NHS England has made to ensure that patients retain the statutory right to choose a provider where a mandatory Single Point of Access triage process operates; and what guidance has been issued to Integrated Care Boards on preserving patient choice rights within mandatory Single Point of Access pathways from 1 April 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth
The policy intention for Advice and Guidance (A&G) and the Elective Single Point of Access (SPoA) model is fully compatible with NHS England’s Patient Choice Guidance, published December 2023. Patients must continue to be offered a choice of provider at the appropriate point in the pathway, and local pathways should be designed to ensure that choice rights operate in practice.
The purpose of A&G is to support decision‑making, reduce unnecessary referrals, and deliver more care closer to home. SPoA acts as a single ‘front door’ to support clinical triage to the most appropriate service or outcome, meaning timelier, more joined-up care for patients, without altering patients’ statutory right to choice.
NHS England has published system guidance The Elective Single Point of Access: Technical Guidance for 2026/27, which specifies that patients must continue to be offered choice of provider and team at the appropriate point in the pathway when they can make an informed choice. An elective SPoA diagram showing touchpoints of choice is included in the technical guidance annex.
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