Extending patient choice is one of several levers in the government's programme to modernise the NHS as it strives to create a more personalised, responsive and efficient health service.
This paper presents the findings of a small qualitative study exploring GPs' views about their role in supporting patient choice at the point of referral.
In particular, it focuses on GPs' level of support for patient choice and the influences on their referral behaviour, GPs' early experiences of Choose and Book, the information that GPs need to inform patients about choice, and the impact of patient characteristics on equity in choice.
