High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The NHS constitution for England is a formal constitution which for the first time, in one document, lays down the objectives of the National Health Service (or NHS), the rights and responsibilities of the various parties involved in health care in England, (patients, staff, trust boards) and the guiding principles which govern the service. Previously these rights and responsibilities had evolved in common law or through UK or EU law, or were policy pledges by the NHS and government have now been written into the constitution.