GPs have stressed the need for accurate, clear information so they can offer the appropriate treatment options to patients.
Health information provider Dr Foster interviewed GPs and patients in three areas where pilot schemes are giving patients the choice of hospital at referral.
From December 2005, all patients needing an operation will be offered a choice of four or five hospitals when referred to specialists.
Making the Choice, commissioned by the Department of Health, found that patients greatly value being able to choose where they are treated, even though many opt to stay local. Around two-thirds (65 per cent) of the 116 GPs interviewed had positive attitudes about choice at the referral stage, saying patients were happy to accept their recommendations.
The study, which looked at schemes in Trent, Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and Dorset and Somerset strategic health authorities, suggested that offering patients a choice led to an increase of just 30 seconds per GP consultation.
GPs and patients also want better information about the clinical performance of individual consultants, rather than just a particular hospital. However, the lack of personal contact between GPs and consultants was found to be a barrier to choice, with some GPs feeling uncomfortable at recommending a consultant they do not know.
A potential increase was identified in administrative time to deal with the patients who wish to reflect and defer making a choice.
The report recommends more specific information for GPs and patients so they can properly assess the options, and it also wants more emphasis on providing ways for GPs and consultants to meet. It concludes that offering choice is feasible and would be welcomed by general practitioners and patients.
"Patient choice is less complicated for GPs to implement than feared - however significant time is required for GP practices to engage with the process,"
says the report.
For more information on the Dr Foster report see the website below.
