Press release: New report reveals patients' views are lost in translation
18 Sep 2006
The public think the NHS is in crisis yet patients consistently report high levels of satisfaction with the care they receive. Lost in Translation - a new report published today by the NHS Confederation - examines why there is such a large gap in perceptions.
Statistics show that public satisfaction ratings for a range of NHS services including walk-in centres, NHS Direct and in and outpatient services, are consistently lower than the ratings given by patients.
Ipsos MORI found that the combined patient and public satisfaction rating for the NHS overall was 63 per cent in the winter of 2005. This figure conceals major differences between the public's ratings which are considerably more negative and patient's ratings which are much more positive.
Supporting MORI's data is a survey by Populous which found that on average patients rate attributes of NHS care such as nursing care, cleanliness and waiting times 12 per cent higher than the public.
So why the large gap in perceptions? Lost in translation suggests that there is a clue to this puzzle in the fact that patients and the public agree about GP services - both rate their satisfaction with this service at around 80 per cent.
GP services are used on average 4 to 5 times each year by every person in the UK. This means that when surveyed about GP services the public can also respond on the basis of their personal experience and not just on opinions from elsewhere.
However, this figure dwarfs all other types of hospital or primary care use, and so when surveyed about these areas of care the public tend to form opinions by giving weight to information from a wide range of other sources and are influenced by wider personal factors.
Ipsos MORI figures show that the most important driver of public satisfaction with the NHS is political beliefs and support for the Government followed by age, poor experiences of A&E, NHS staff bad mouthing the service and media coverage, particularly broadcast.
Nigel Edwards, director of policy at the NHS Confederation which represents more than 90 per cent of NHS organisations, said:
"The public has become distrustful when confronted with evidence of improvement in the NHS. It would seem that disenchantment with the Government translates into scepticism about the service.
"The Government has failed to communicate health reforms effectively to the public and this might be one reason why they rate their satisfaction with the NHS much lower than patients do."
The views of NHS staff have a large part to play in the patient/public perceptions gap. Although many have a favourable view of the services provided by their own organisation, compared to other occupations, a larger proportion are critical of their employer. Just over twice the proportion of NHS staff are critical compared with the average for the private sector.
Nigel Edwards says:
"Staff moral is important to the success of any organisation. Therefore, negative opinions from some NHS staff are a key driver of the overall poor image of the service."
"It is clear that both the NHS and the Government have a big mountain to climb in order to restore public and staff confidence in the NHS.
"Significant improvements have been made over recent years; this is clear from patients consistently reporting high levels of satisfaction with the care they receive. However, there is still a long way to go and although it is important to celebrate success we must be careful to avoid complacency.
"The substance of NHS policy needs to change from chasing dogmatic targets and endless reorganisations to a stronger focus on patient experiences and outcomes.
"We need to stop talking reform, targets, markets and competition. The language is dry and too focussed on tools and structures. Virtually none of this tells a story that patients, the public or even frontline staff can understand.
"It is only through the NHS and Government working together to change the focus of the service back to the experience of the patient and the outcomes of their care that the perceptions gap will begin to close and the current poor image of the NHS will start to improve."
Download the report: Lost in Translation
ENDS
Notes for editors
Service Patient satisfaction rating (%) Public satisfaction rating (%)
GP services 81 80
Inpatient services 74 47
Outpatient services 70 54
Walk-in centres 69 30
NHS Direct 71 36
Source: Ipsos MORI, winter 2005
The NHS Confederation represents more than 90% of the organisations that make up the NHS. Its members include the majority of NHS acute trusts, ambulance trusts, foundation trusts, mental health trusts, primary care trusts, special health authorities and strategic health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland.
Contact details
Contact Media Relations Manager Joanna Clason on 020 7074 3306 or 07798 571078 or Senior Media Officer Amy Darlington on 020 7074 3304. For out of hours enquiries, please call the Duty Press Officer on 07880 500726.
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