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Critics question whether “friends and family” test in NHS is fit for prime minister’s purpose

BMJ 2013; 346 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f83 (Published 07 January 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f83
  1. Zosia Kmietowicz
  1. 1BMJ

The BMA and the NHS Alliance have questioned the value of the latest idea from the prime minister for all general practitioners in England to undergo the “friends and family” test as a way to root out services that offer unacceptable standards of care.

Last May the government announced that hospitals in England would be subject to the test from this April after a recommendation from the Nursing Quality Care Forum, which was set up last January after a number of high profile cases of poor care in the NHS.1

But on 4 January David Cameron said that the test, in which patients and staff are asked …

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