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Report on the results of the Patient Choice Survey, England - May/June 2006 and headline figures for July 2006

Document type:

Statistics
Author:

Department of Health
Published date:

13 November 2006
Primary audience:

Health and social care professionals
Publication format:

Electronic only
Gateway reference:

Not required
Pages:

21
Copyright holder:

Crown

Since January 2006, all eligible patients referred by their GP for elective care should have been offered clinically appropriate choices from a list of four or more providers commissioned by their Primary Care Trust (PCT). These reports give the results of the National Patient Choice survey commissioned to assess the implementation of choice at PCT level.

The report gives the results of around 79,000 responses to the first national patient choice survey commissioned to assess the implementation of choice at PCT level. The headline figures from the second survey are also provided for comparison. The surveys were conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Department, as part of a series of surveys planned to 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.

The main findings of the May/June survey are:

30% of patients recalled being offered a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment.
29% of patients were aware before they visited their GP that they had a choice of hospitals for their first appointment.
51% of patients who were aware of choice recalled being offered choice, whereas 21% of those not aware of choice recalled being offered it.
20% of patients who were offered a choice of hospital were also offered a copy of the ‘Choosing your hospital’ booklet.
75% of patients who were offered choice were satisfied with the process and 5% were dissatisfied.
Location or transport considerations were given most often, by 57% of patients, as an important factor when choosing a hospital.

The headline findings of the July survey are:

35% of patients recalled being offered a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment.
32% of patients were aware before they visited their GP that they had a choice of hospitals for their first appointment.
55% of patients who were aware of choice recalled being offered choice, whereas 26% of those not aware of choice recalled being offered it.
26% of patients who were offered a choice of hospital were also offered a copy of the ‘Choosing your hospital’ booklet.

The results of the July survey will be published in full in December 2006.

Download Report of the National Patient Choice Survey May/June 2006 (PDF, 211K)

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