Online patient feedback linked to hospital performance
Imperial College London has published independent research that links online patient feedback and objective measures of hospital performance.
The research, which looked at patient feedback left on the NHS Choices website, found that better-rated hospitals tend to have lower death rates and lower readmission rates. While hospitals rated as cleaner by patients have also been found to have lower MRSA rates.
The Government welcomes these findings which highlight the importance of patients having a stronger voice in the NHS.
The research is significant because it’s the first to link unsolicited patient ratings and objective measures of quality, signalling that online patient feedback may be more insightful and valuable than previously thought.
Record traffic to the NHS Choices website shows that online feedback offers an increasingly popular, convenient way for patients to make informed choices about their healthcare and for those treating them to respond to comments and improve services.