New online NHS service announced

The Department of Health (DoH) is set to launch a new website, NHS Choices, which it hopes will help patients personalise their healthcare.

Aiming to provide users with “authoritative medical information”, the resource will give details that allow people to make decisions about when are where to get treatment. The NHS believes the service will enable patients to make better informed decisions.

Individuals will be able to assess healthcare providers in terms of factors such as waiting times or distance from their home, thus choosing services which best meet their needs.

The site will feature an NHS library, which will give information on common conditions and procedures, which was previously only available to clinicians.

Health secretary Patricia Hewitt said: “Health advice is the second most popular subject on the web.

“Consequently there is a bewildering array of information online often of varying quality that can be confusing or in the worst cases dangerous.”

She added that NHS Choices would change this situation, giving patients and providers access to “the best, most reliable information on health”.

This week, the DoH has also announced plans to streamline its complaints system for health and social care.