A Patient Charter outlining the rights and responsibilities of healthcare providers and patients would require a change in mentality by both parties for it to succeed, Health Minister Chris Fearne said today. 

The charter, which is open to public consultation until the end of this month, is expected to be officially launched within three months' time. Among other things, it would allow patients kept on a public hospital waiting list for an overly long period of time to seek treatment at a private facility at the government's expense. 

Dr Fearne said that feedback had been positive and that the government intended to review the charter every two years to ensure it remained relevant and sustainable.

But Nationalist Party health spokesperson Claudette Buttigieg noted that the charter made no mention of how patients and healthcare workers could uphold their rights or remedy any breaches of them. Nor was there any mention of which authority would investigate complaints, or of who would be responsible for public health education. 

"The entire document ought to focus more on the dignity and reciprocal respect between patients and all those in the healthcare sector," Ms Buttigieg said. She noted that the 2013 Health Act obliged the government to present a Patient Charter.

Keen to give the government your feedback? Click here to take part in the charter's public consultation.