Patients are to receive at least 3 weeks’ notice from the NHS for all new planned medical appointments, the NHS has confiremd.
10:56, 09 Jul 2026Updated 12:15, 09 Jul 2026
NHS confirms new appointment rule from July with three-week change
The NHS has confirmed an appointment change with new rules from this week. Patients are to receive at least 3 weeks’ notice from the NHS for all new planned medical appointments, the NHS has confiremd.
NHS Chief Executive, Sir Jim Mackey, said all patients will receive clear confirmation via the NHS App when their referral from their GP has been accepted by a hospital specialist and they have joined the waiting list.
Mackey, NHS Chief Executive, said: “Almost everyone has a story in their family about how navigating the NHS has been like walking through treacle, including cases where patients aren’t even sure if they’ve been referred, which is clearly unacceptable.
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“If we want to keep improving patients’ experiences and satisfaction with the NHS, we have to fix the basics – and that starts with how we treat people even before they arrive for their treatment.
“Our communication with patients needs to be clear and easy to understand. We have to get away from making patients ask us multiple times to get the information they need, and start delivering five-star customer service.
“These standards are by no means revolutionary – they are simple and clear standards that should be the bare minimum the public can expect from our services, and together we have to make sure that patient experience is always at the very centre of our decision-making and service planning.
“Staff across the country have driven real progress in how people are experiencing the NHS this year – but there is a long way to go. Needing medical care is stressful enough, and through all the work to join up our data and invest in digital technology, we are building a modern NHS fit for the future and able to make life much easier for patients to access the care they need.”
Labour Party Health and Social Care Secretary James Murray said: “For too long, patients have been left chasing the NHS for basic information on their treatment. That’s not good enough.
“These new patient standards are the bare minimum and things the health service should already be providing patients: clear confirmation when you’re referred, regular updates while you wait, and proper notice before your appointment. This is the floor, not the ceiling, but will drive up standards as we rebuild the NHS.
“They form part of how the government is modernising patient care from the ground up – connecting every Trust to the NHS App, and introducing a Single Patient Record so people stop having to repeat their story at every turn.”
William Pett, Interim Director of Policy & External Affairs at Healthwatch England, said: “We welcome the publication of these standards as a clear signal from NHS leaders that high-quality customer service matters as much to patients as the length of their wait.
“For too long, patients have told us about referral letters going missing, delayed appointment letters or feeling forgotten about altogether for months on end without news of when they will be seen.
“The real challenge will be to ensure these standards are delivered. We urge trusts to upskill and enable their admin teams to deliver better service and reduce the burden on patients in chasing for updates.
“Annual self-assessment by trusts of their progress in meeting these standards should also go hand in hand with gathering public views on whether the NHS is meeting its goal of smoother, clearer and more supportive journeys for people referred for planned care.”