Does the Human Rights Act give patients more rights of access to NHS treatment than before?
No. The same rights exist as before. Under the Act a person cannot compel the NHS to give him treatment or an operation except through the courts. It is not possible to predict whether challenges to treatment refusals may be successful where they would not have been before but it is unlikely that courts will adopt a very different approach. In cases where resources are an issue, or cases involving refusals of treatment, similar approaches are expected. What may happen is that the decision making process will come under greater scrutiny than before. In the future there may be test cases where the deployment of ECHR points may make a difference. Health authorities and trusts would need to identify these potential areas early if it is necessary to take prior action, for example because important policy or operational considerations are at stake.
