Patients' Views Are Lost In Translation

The public think the NHS is in crisis yet patients consistently report high levels of satisfaction with the care they receive. Lost in Translation — a new report published today by the NHS Confederation — examines why there is such a large gap in perceptions.

Statistics show that public satisfaction ratings for a range of NHS services including walk-in centres, NHS Direct and in and outpatient services, are consistently lower than the ratings given by patients.

Ipsos found that the combined patient and public satisfaction rating for the NHS overall was 63 per cent in the winter of 2005. This figure conceals major differences between the public's ratings which are considerably more negative and patient's ratings which are much more positive.

So why the large gap in perceptions? Lost in Translation suggests that there is a clue to this puzzle in the fact that patients and the public agree about GP services — both rate their satisfaction with this service at around 80 per cent.

GP services are used on average 4 to 5 times each year by every person in the UK. This means that when surveyed about GP services the public can also respond on the basis of their personal experience and not just on opinions from elsewhere.

However, this figure dwarfs all other types of hospital or primary care use, and so when surveyed about these areas of care the public tend to form opinions by giving weight to information from a wide range of other sources and are influenced by wider personal factors.

Ipsos figures show that the most important driver of public satisfaction with the NHS is political beliefs and support for the Government followed by age, poor experiences of A&E, NHS staff bad mouthing the service and media coverage, particularly broadcast.

The views of NHS staff have a large part to play in the patient / public perceptions gap. Although many have a favourable view of the services provided by their own organisation, compared to other occupations, a larger proportion are critical of their employer. Just over twice the proportion of NHS staff are critical compared with the average for the private sector.

Source: Ipsos, winter 2005

Download the report: Lost in Translation pdf, 464KB

The NHS Confederation represents more than 90% of the organisations that make up the NHS. Its members include the majority of NHS acute trusts, ambulance trusts, foundation trusts, mental health trusts, primary care trusts, special health authorities and strategic health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.