Channel 4's flagship current affairs programme, Dispatches, is to launch a unique website designed to help viewers challenge the NHS postcode lottery.
The launch on 27 November will coincide with the broadcast of a film presented by Channel 4 News presenter Jon Snow (pictured) that accuses the Government of failing to solve the regional variations in treatment availability.
Channel 4 News and current affairs editor Mark Roberts told Press Gazette: "You may well think that you are getting the best the NHS has to offer — but you may be in for a surprise. What you can expect from the NHS varies hugely — and you could well be on the wrong end of it "What Channel 4, along with [medical information agency] Dr Foster, is doing is empowering all of us who are patients of the NHS. Via the C4 website you will be able to compare the treatment you are getting (in 16 key health areas) with what patients across the UK receive."
Britain's Healthcare Lottery also investigates attitudes on the ground by visiting people across the country that have been affected by the rationing of drugs.
With the help of experts at Dr Foster, Dispatches has compiled a database for the website which reveals the full scale of the postcode lottery regarding healthcare provision.
The figures are based on the results of a nationwide survey of the NHS which examined waiting times for treatment, availability and quality of service.
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