The national survey of patients into patient choice of hospital has been released. Unsurprisingly 57% of people (79,000) think that the location is an important issue.
22% were concerned about the waiting times, 18% about the hospital's "reputation", 17% about the quality of care, 15% about cleanliness, 8% about quality of staff and 6% about car parking.
The reputation of the consultation for a specialism was less important than car parking. There were a number of other minor issues as well.
In Eastern Birmingham 26% of patients remembered being offered a choice.
This figure was 18% for Heart of Birmingham, 37% for North Birmingham and 19% for South Birmingham.
Everyone was supposed to have been offered a choice from Jan 2006.
22% were concerned about the waiting times, 18% about the hospital's "reputation", 17% about the quality of care, 15% about cleanliness, 8% about quality of staff and 6% about car parking.
The reputation of the consultation for a specialism was less important than car parking. There were a number of other minor issues as well.
In Eastern Birmingham 26% of patients remembered being offered a choice.
This figure was 18% for Heart of Birmingham, 37% for North Birmingham and 19% for South Birmingham.
Everyone was supposed to have been offered a choice from Jan 2006.
Comments
3 members of my immediate family have recieved hospital treatment over the last 12 months (myself 3 times as an out patient, my father once as an in patient for 10 days and subsequently repeated out patient followup visits and my neice once as an in patient overnight; it's been a bad year for us, we're looking forward to it being over), none of us were asked to contribute to any survey and certainly my priorities would be different. One of my visits was for an altered mole that both myself and my GP thought might be turning cancerous. I wasn't given a choice of hospital, just referred to City Hospital later that week to see a specialist. My priorities were getting the examination/treatment I needed from someone who knew what they were doing as quickly as possible. If I'd had to travel to London, Edinburgh or where-ever to get it then I'd have done so. Perhaps someone who needed more frequent and routine treatment, especially if they were insecurely employed or on fixed income, might value locality more. Hence the interest in correlating responses to demographics and treatment received.