Report of the National Patient Choice Survey, England

Written by Musmirah_Shahzada on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 12:42

Report of the National Patient Choice Survey, England - March 2008, and provisional headlines for May 2008

This report gives the final results of around 109,000 responses to the twelfth national patient choice survey, commissioned to assess the implementation of choice at PCT level. The series of surveys, conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Department, monitor patient awareness of choice and recall of having been offered a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment. They were designed to provide a national overview of choice and summary results at PCT level and generally have an effective response rate around 30%.

The report also contains combined survey results to date by age, sex and ethnic group.

  • The proportion of patients recalling being offered a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment was higher for patients in the White ethnic group than for Black and Minority Ethnic group (BME) patients.
  • The Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British and Other ethnic groups were on average 16% to 18% below the overall proportion of patients offered choice. Those with Mixed ethnicity were closer to average. The variation by ethnic group lessened in the latest four surveys.
  • The proportion of patients aware before visiting their GP that they had a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment was higher for patients in the White ethnic group than for Black and Minority Ethnic group (BME) patients
  • Of all BME patients, those considering themselves in the Mixed and Asian or Asian British groups had the highest awareness of choice. Nevertheless, awareness has risen over time across all groups.
  • The proportion of patients who were able to go to the hospital they wanted was higher for patients in the White ethnic group than for Black and Minority Ethnic group (BME) patients. All BME groups were less likely to have a preference of hospital than White patients (even when offered a choice).

Further Information

  • To access the full report click here.
  • To order a publication of the report, click here.

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