NHS Constitution

The NHS Constitution was published on 21 January 2009 and became legally binding on the 19 January 2010. It was updated in March 2012 as part of the NHS reforms.

The NHS Constitution brings together, for the first time, the principles, values, rights and responsibilities that underpin the NHS. It is designed to renew and secure our commitment to the enduring principles of the NHS, making sure that it continues to be relevant to the needs of patients, the public and staff in the 21st Century.

It will help people to feel that they can take control and make choices over their care. It explains that by working together we can make the very best use of resources to:
 - improve our health and wellbeing;
 - keep mentally and physically well;
 - get better when we are ill; and
 - when we cannot recover, to stay as well as we can to the end of our
   lives.

As part of a series of measures intended to highlight the importance of whistleblowing in the NHS, the updated Constitution includes:

• an expectation that staff should raise concerns at the earliest opportunity;

• a pledge that NHS organisations should support staff when raising concerns by ensuring their concerns are fully investigated and that there is someone independent, outside of their team, to speak to; and

• clarity around the existing legal right for staff to raise concerns about safety, malpractice or other wrong doing without suffering any detriment.

The Constitution aims to guide the NHS in everything it does, making sure that patients are involved in their treatment and care and safeguarding the future of the NHS.

The Constitution will be renewed every 10 years, with the involvement of the public, patients and staff. The Handbook which accompanies the NHS Constitution will be renewed at least every three years. The Handbook sets out the current guidance on the rights, pledges, duties and responsibilities established by the Constitution. These requirements for renewal are legally binding and guarantee that the principles and values which underpin the NHS are subject to regular review and recommitment.

Related pages on this site

Patients and the publicrights, pledges and responsibilities for patients and the public in the NHS ConstitutionStaffinformation on the rights, pledges and expectations for staff in the NHS Constitution

Related downloads

| NHS Constitution published 2010.pdf (0.11 MB)

| Handbook to the NHS Constitution published 2010.pdf (1.17 MB)

| Statement of NHS Accountability for England.pdf (0.12 MB)

| NHS Constitution 2012.pdf (1.76 MB)

| NHS Constitution 2012 handbook.pdf (0.60 MB)