Public attitudes towards health and social care ratings

The Nuffield Trust was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Health to review whether aggregate ratings of provider performance should be used in health and social care.

To inform this ratings review, the Nuffield Trust commissioned Ipsos to conduct a piece of qualitative research to explore public attitudes towards ratings in health and social care.

The research found that:

• Overall, there was not a strong appetite amongst the public for a rating system for health services but the reaction was far more favourable for social care services;
• One advantage of a ratings system identified was that poor ratings could drive improvement amongst services considered to be underperforming. Participants thought that a rating could be useful as a point of reference but not as a primary factor in decision-making;
• Views on ratings were closely tied to perceptions of choice, and therefore, where choice was possible, ratings would be a useful tool. Generally, participants did not consider that they had a choice in health services and therefore felt that ratings would only be useful where there was real choice;
• It was thought by participants that, given the complexity of health services, a rating would be very difficult to implement;
• Participants reacted more favourably to the concept of ratings for care homes, than they did towards ratings for GPs or hospitals; and
• Any ratings system would need to be accompanied by a narrative for the public explaining the role of regulation, choice and the limitations of any rating system.

Find out more about the health and social care ratings review. Technical Note

• Three focus groups of eight people were conducted with the general public between the 4th and 6th March 2013.
• Participants were recruited based on a number of criteria including: social grade (two groups at ABC1 and one at C2DEs); having primary-school-aged children; having experience of choosing a care home in the last 12 months; or having experience of non-emergency hospital treatment.