National Patient Choice Survey, Wave 1
One of the government's cornerstones of its NHS reform is providing more choice to patients to make the NHS more flexible and responsive. Since the beginning of 2006, patients are entitled to be offered a choice of four or more hospitals when referred by their GP. The Department of Health commissioned Ipsos to undertake a major regular postal survey assessing the implementation of this policy in primary care.
One of the government's cornerstones of its NHS reform is providing more choice to patients to make the NHS more flexible and responsive. Since the beginning of 2006, patients are entitled to be offered a choice of four or more hospitals when referred by their GP. The Department of Health commissioned Ipsos to undertake a major regular postal survey assessing the implementation of this policy in primary care.
The results of the surveys indicate that most eligible patients are not receiving any choice of hospital provider, despite government exhortations.
Three in ten (30%) of those who were referred to hospital for a first outpatient appointment between 22 May and 4 June 2006 recall having been offered a choice of hospital by their GP. However, the trend is rising, with 35% patients saying they remember being offered choice in the second survey conducted 2 months later, among those referred between 17 and 31 July 2006.
More patients are being offered the Choosing your Hospital booklet, which is designed to help patients make an informed choice. Around one in four patients (26%) say they were offered, compared with one in five (20%) in the first survey.
Satisfaction with the process of choosing hospital is high. Of those who were offered a choice, around three-quarters (75%) felt satisfied, and approaching half (48%) were very satisfied with the process of choosing their hospital.
The overwhelming factor important to patients when choosing their hospital is the location and accessibility of the hospital (57%). Waiting times (22%), the reputation of the hospital (18%) and quality of care (17%) are also important.
The results of each wave relate to a two-week referral window:
- Results for Wave 1 based on 78,777 respondents.
Topline Results
- Fieldwork carried out by postal questionnaire among patients referred in the last two weeks of May for Wave 1 and the last two weeks of July for Wave 2.
- Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to computer rounding, multiple responses, or to the exclusion of don't knows or non-responses.
- An asterisk (*) indicates a finding of less than 0.5%, but greater than zero.
- Results are weighted.
- Base: All unless otherwise stated.
Q1 Before you visited your GP, did you know that you now have a choice of hospitals that you can go to for your first hospital appointment?
| Wave 1 | Wave 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| % | % | |
| Yes | 29 | 32 |
| No | 69 | 67 |
| Not stated | 1 | 1 |
Q2 Were you offered a choice of hospital for your first hospital appointment?
| Wave 1 | Wave 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| % | % | |
| Yes | 30 | 35 |
| No | 64 | 59 |
| Don't know | 4 | 4 |
| Not stated | 2 | 2 |
Q3 Were you offered a copy of the Choosing Your Hospital booklet by your GP Practice?Base: All who were offered a choice of hospital
| Wave 1 | Wave 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Base | (23,344) | (24,492) |
| % | % | |
| Yes | 20 | 26 |
| No | 70 | 64 |
| Don't know | 4 | 4 |
| Not stated | 6 | 6 |
Q4 Which of the following best describes how you felt about the process of choosing your hospital?Base: All who were offered a choice of hospital (23,344)
| % | |
|---|---|
| Very satisfied | 48 |
| Fairly satisfied | 27 |
| Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied | 15 |
| Fairly dissatisfied | 3 |
| Very dissatisfied | 3 |
| Not stated | 4 |
Q5 Which three factors, if any, would be most important to you when choosing a hospital?Top 9 factors
| % | |
|---|---|
| Location / Transport (accessibility / easy to get to) | 57 |
| Waiting times | 22 |
| Reputation of hospital (previous experience / familiarity / confidence) | 18 |
| Quality of care (treatment / standards / expertise) | 17 |
| Cleanliness (infection free / hygiene / MRSA levels) | 15 |
| Quality of staff (friendliness / competence / kindness) | 8 |
| Car parking (free / cheaper / easier) | 6 |
| Reputation of consultant (specialisms) | 5 |
| Appointment time / flexibility / suitable time / seen on time | 3 |
| Don't know | 1 |
| Not stated | 27 |
Q6 Do you have any comments about your experience of arranging a hospital appointment?Top 8 factors
| % | |
|---|---|
| Pleased / satisfied / excellent / good | 8 |
| Takes too long for appointments to come through | 5 |
| Efficient / straightforward | 5 |
| Waiting time / waiting list too long / delays | 5 |
| Quick / quick appointment / seen quicker than expected | 4 |
| Staff pleasant / helpful / friendly / polite | 3 |
| Difficulty with phoning / amount of time to get through / line always busy | 2 |
| Good GP / GP arranged appointment / happy to leave it to GP | 2 |
| No comment | 14 |
| Not stated | 44 |
Technical details
Questionnaires were mailed to all patients who had been referred by a GP for a first outpatient appointment in any of 160 major acute NHS trusts during the two-week period: for the first wave between 22 May and 4 June 2006, for the second wave between 17 and 31 July 2006.
In the first wave, 86,196 questionnaires were returned. Of these, 78,777 were valid (had adequate information about the patient's Acute Trust and Primary Care Trust) -- a valid response rate of 29%. Fieldwork was conducted between 22 May and 14 July 2006.
In the second wave, 75,174 questionnaires were returned. Of these, 70,084 were valid -- a valid response rate of 30%. Fieldwork was conducted between 17 July and 19 September 2006.
Results are weighted to the national outpatient profile by age within gender.
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