values and core principles of the NHS

Working together for patients

Patients come first in everything we do. Fully involve patients, staff, families, carers, communities, and professionals inside and outside the NHS. Put the needs of patients and communities before organisational boundaries and speak up when things go wrong.

Respect and dignity

Value every person as an individual, respect their aspirations and commitments in life, and seek to understand their priorities, needs, abilities and limits. Take what others have to say seriously and are honest and open about our point of view and what we can and cannot do.

Commitment to quality of care

Earn the trust placed in us by insisting on quality and striving to get the basics of quality of care - safety, effectiveness and patient experience - right every time. Encourage and welcome feedback from patients, families, carers, staff and the public, using this to improve the care we provide and build on our successes.

Compassion

Ensure that compassion is central to the care we provide and respond with humanity and kindness to each person's pain, distress, anxiety or need. Search for the things we can do, however small, to give comfort and relieve suffering. Find time for patients, their families and carers, as well as those we work alongside. Do not wait to be asked, because we care.

Improving lives

Strive to improve health and wellbeing and people's experiences of the NHS. Cherish excellence and professionalism wherever we find it - in the everyday things that make people's lives better as much as in clinical practice, service improvements and innovation. Recognise that all have a part to play in making ourselves, patients and our communities healthier.

Everyone counts

Maximise our resources for the benefit of the whole community, and make sure nobody is excluded, discriminated against or left behind. Accept that some people need more help, that difficult decisions have to be taken - and that when we waste resources we waste opportunities for others.

The NHS provides a comprehensive service, available to all

Available to all irrespective of gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity or marital or civil partnership status. The service is designed to improve, prevent, diagnose and treat both physical and mental health problems with equal regard. It has a duty to each and every individual that it serves and must respect their human rights. At the same time, it has a wider social duty to promote equality through the services it provides and to pay particular attention to groups or sections of society where improvements in health and life expectancy are not keeping pace with the rest of the population.

Access to NHS services is based on clinical need, not an individual's ability to pay

NHS services are free of charge, except in limited circumstances sanctioned by Parliament.

The NHS aspires to the highest standards of excellence and professionalism

Provides high quality care that is safe, effective and focused on patient experience; in the people it employs, and in the support, education, training and development they receive; in the leadership and management of its organisations; and through its commitment to innovation and to the promotion, conduct and use of research to improve the current and future health and care of the population. Respect, dignity, compassion and care should be at the core of how patients and staff are treated not only because that is the right thing to do but because patient safety, experience and outcomes are all improved when staff are valued, empowered and supported.

The patient will be at the heart of everything the NHS does

Support individuals to promote and manage their own health. NHS services must reflect, and should be coordinated around and tailored to, the needs and preferences of patients, their families and their carers. As part of this, the NHS will ensure that in line with the Armed Forces Covenant, those in the armed forces, reservists, their families and veterans are not disadvantaged in accessing health services in the area they reside. Patients, with their families and carers, where appropriate, will be involved in and consulted on all decisions about their care and treatment. The NHS will actively encourage feedback from the public, patients and staff, welcome it and use it to improve its services.

The NHS works across organisational boundaries

It works in partnership with other organisations in the interest of patients, local communities and the wider population. The NHS is an integrated system of organisations and services bound together by the principles and values reflected in the Constitution. The NHS is committed to working jointly with other local authority services, other public sector organisations and a wide range of private and voluntary sector organisations to provide and deliver improvements in health and wellbeing.

The NHS is committed to providing best value for taxpayers' money

It is committed to providing the most effective, fair and sustainable use of finite resources. Public funds for healthcare will be devoted solely to the benefit of the people that the NHS serves.

The NHS is accountable to the public, communities and patients that it serves

The NHS is a national service funded through national taxation, and it is the government which sets the framework for the NHS and which is accountable to Parliament for its operation. However, most decisions in the NHS, especially those about the treatment of individuals and the detailed organisation of services, are rightly taken by the local NHS and by patients with their clinicians. The system of responsibility and accountability for taking decisions in the NHS should be transparent and clear to the public, patients and staff. The government will ensure that there is always a clear and up-to-date statement of NHS accountability for this purpose.