‘Review culture’ is on the rise, yet only one in ten feed back on health services
People are nearly four times more likely to share their thoughts on a dinner out or takeaway than on NHS services, according to a new survey.
New research highlights how widespread the culture of reviewing products and services is now in England. When polled, 84% of adults said they would likely leave a review if they had a positive or negative experience.
The top five areas where people typically post reviews are:
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Going out for a meal or drink, or getting a takeaway (41%)
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Experience of ordering products online (28%)
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A hotel stay (25%)
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A visit to a tourist attraction (23%)
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A book they have recently read (15%)
On average, the respondents said they would spend eight to ten minutes sharing these reviews. Online review forums and product websites are the most likely ways people would share their views.
Yet when asked if they would provide feedback after visiting their doctor, nurse or another healthcare professional - just one in ten (11%) people said yes.
Patient feedback can enable the NHS to spot issues and identify where services may need more resource or other support. It can also help address inequalities in access to care, the extent of which has been laid bare by the pandemic.
With NHS and social care services under pressure, Healthwatch England calls on more people to tell the NHS when they are doing a good job and when services can be improved.
Healthwatch North Yorkshire CEO Ashley Green said:
“We are always looking for people to share their views with us, which they can do at http://www.healthwatchnorthyorkshire.co.uk/have-your-say or by contacting our team on 01423 788 128 or admin@hwny.co.uk.
"We are currently looking for people to tell us about their experiences of end-of-life care and rurality: is it a health inequality?, alongside feedback about any health and care service.
"We're also putting together our findings from our latest public surveys that look at experiences of mental health services, continence and bowel health, and winter pressures and the NHS. These reports will be published in April and May 2023."
The research also found that health and care services could generate more public feedback by clarifying that any shared experience is welcome and won't negatively impact people's care.
When asked what the most significant barriers were that stopped people from sharing feedback on health and social care services, the most popular reasons were:
- Being worried it would harm the quality of their care (20%)
- Not wanting to cause problems for health and care workers (20%)
- Not knowing how to feedback (18%)
The research comes as Healthwatch North Yorkshire, along with the other 151 services nationally, mark their tenth anniversary. The public health and care champion is celebrating its anniversary across the country by thanking everyone who has shared their care experiences, and the professionals who have acted on feedback since Healthwatch started work in 2013.
During the last year, over 2,700 people have shared their experiences of health and social care with us. That’s great but we would like that number to be even higher so that we can tell local service leaders what things are working well and highlight where there needs to be improvement.
