The standards were published in consultation with the Carers Trust, Carers UK, Healthwatch England, National Voices, the Patient Safety Commissioner, Picker, The King's Fund, The Patients Association and The Richmond Group of Charities.

Sir Jim Mackey, NHS chief executive, said: ‘These standards are by no means revolutionary – they are simple and clear standards that should be the bare minimum the public can expect from our services, and together we have to make sure that patient experience is always at the very centre of our decision-making and service planning.'

The standards include at least three weeks' notice for all planned appointments. In addition, patients will receive regular updates at least every 12 weeks about their condition and whether there is any change in their needs.

New appointments for rescheduled appointments should be received within 28 days and patients will also receive clear communications about the next steps agreed with their clinician once their treatment ends.

All NHS trusts will now be asked to publish a summary annually of their performance towards the standards.

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Professor Meghana Pandit, deputy chief executive officer of NHS England said: ‘The NHS has made real progress in improving working conditions over the past year, including through our 10-point plan to deliver meaningful changes for resident doctors.

‘But we know there is still much more to do, which is why we're introducing a clear set of minimum standards that every NHS staff member can expect, wherever they work and whatever their role.

‘We'll also back managers and leaders with better support and development, helping them attract, grow and keep the talented people the NHS needs, to deliver the best possible care for patients."

Chris Graham, chief executive at Picker, said:  ‘We have long called for improvements to the experience of waiting for care, including the development of a comprehensive "waiting well" strategy. The minimum standards are a helpful step towards this, but we would like to see them go further.

‘In future, we would like to see the minimum standards extended to cover all secondary care services, and a systematic, comparable measure of patient experience during waiting periods should be launched to support assessment, transparency, and accountability. We would also like to see the standards develop to become more ambitious – for example, by shortening the time in which patients must be told whether their referral has been accepted.'