Report on the National Patient Choice Survey, February 2010, England

The main findings of the February survey are:

• The percentage of patients recalling being offered a choice of hospital for their first outpatient appointment was 49% in February 2010, up from 47% in March 2009 and 30% in the first survey (May/June 2006).
• 54% of patients were aware before they visited their GP that they had a choice of hospitals for their first appointment, up from 50% in March 2009 and 29% in the May/June 2006 survey.
• 63% of patients who were aware of choice recalled being offered choice, whereas only 32% of those not aware of choice recalled being offered it, similar to the March 2009 survey (62% and 32% respectively).
• 67% of patients were able to go to the hospital they wanted, with a further 22% having no preference and 8% unable to go where they wanted, similar to 67%, 23% and 8% respectively in March 2009.
• 88% of patients offered choice were able to go to the hospital they wanted, with a further 5% having no preference.  This compares with 47% of patients not offered choice being able to go where they wanted and 40% having no preference.
• 77% of patients were satisfied with how long they had to wait from the time their GP referred them to when they saw the hospital specialist.
• For those who were offered a choice, a hospital close to home or work was selected most often (by 38% of patients offered choice) as the single most important factor when choosing their hospital.

For the full report please see the following link - http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_116958

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