DH survey finds improvement in patient choice

Almost half of patients referred to hospital by their GP can recall being offered choice, according to the latest results of the Department of Health’s (DH)  National Patient Choice Survey.

Some 45% of respondents were able to recall that they were offered a choice of hospitals, up 10% from the first survey in May/June 2006.

Over 73,000 patients responded to the January 2007 survey between 15 and 28 January. 

Awareness of how they can exercise choices remained  low however, with just over a third of patients surveyed saying they knew they could choose the location and date for their outpatient admission to hospital.

The main findings of the January survey are:

• The percentages of patients aware of choice, offered choice and offered the Choice booklet continues to rise.

• More patients recalled being offered a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment: 45% in January, up from 41% in the November survey and 30% in the first (May/June) survey.

• 36% of patients were aware before they visited their GP that they had a choice of hospitals for their first appointment, up from 35% in November and 29% in the May/June survey.

• 64% of patients who were aware of choice recalled being offered choice, whereas 34% of those not aware of choice recalled being offered it, compared with 60% and 31% respectively in the November survey.

• 32% of patients who were offered a choice of hospital were also offered a copy of the ‘Choosing your hospital’ booklet, up from 28% in November and 20% in the May/June survey.

• 79% of patients who were offered choice were satisfied with the process and 5% were dissatisfied, similar to the November survey.

• Location or transport considerations were again given most often, by 64% of patients, as an important factor when choosing a hospital.

The survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI, is the fifth national patient choice survey commissioned to assess the implementation of choice at PCT level. The surveys are designed to monitor patient awareness of choice and recall of having been offered a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment and provide a national overview of choice and summary results at PCT level.

Health minister, Lord Hunt, said: “This shows that the situation is improving. There is a definite correlation between local awareness and patient recall of choice. We are serious about choice and I expect performance will improve as PCTs act on the results of the survey and learn from those areas where performance is already high.”

Last year, the former health minister Lord Warner announced a new library pilot project alongside new regional and national versions of the ‘Choosing your hospital’ booklet, in a bid to help make patients remember being offered choice by their GPs. These were formally launched in April by health secretary, Patricia Hewitt. A DH spokesperson told EHI that the librarians would help people better understand the choices available to them and subsequent surveys should reflect this wider availability of resources.

The NHS Choices website, due to go live this month, will also provide searchable directories on hospitals, GPs and care homes; and comparative data on hospital waiting times, cleanliness and readmission rates.

Last month, EHI reported how a Healthcare Commission poll on healthcare priorities listed choice near bottom of the 82 options, leading to the watchdog to decide to stop asking patients questions about choice in future surveys.

Choice questions were also dropped from the DH’s Patient Experience Survey, which contributes towards the pay of GPs, last year.