THEY STILL DON’T LISTEN

Despite all the spin from “lord” Ara Darzi his wonderful, interactive health service is still deaf to the opinions of patients.


Watchdog Calls On Healthcare Services To Do More To Act On The Views Of Patients And The Public NHS trusts are increasing their efforts to listen to patients and the public, but now must go "the next step" to ensure these views are used to bring about change and improvement, according to a Healthcare Commission study published yesterday.

The Healthcare Commission study into public and patient involvement in healthcare brings together the views of hundreds of patients and members of the public and 139 healthcare providers.

The report includes some excellent examples of healthcare providers listening and responding to patients. But many patients and service users involved in the study said they felt their views were not listened to or properly acted upon.

Few trusts involved in the study could demonstrate that they routinely took account of people's views in their decision- making. Last week in its report on the impact of regulation on healthcare, the Commission highlighted that the relevant national core standard, and the assessment of it, should be strengthened to make clear to trusts how they should involve people effectively when planning and improving services.

When the Commission asked organisations what changes they had made to services as a result of peoples views, it found people are least likely to influence areas such as quality of clinical care or choice of services provided in the local area. The study also showed that people in vulnerable circumstances or in poorest health often found it hardest to get their views and experiences heard by health services.

Patients and service users involved in the study said they experienced problems when trying to make their views heard. Themes they identified included: poor communication; lack of openness; poorly designed local surveys and questionnaires; not enough opportunities to discuss views in an environment where they felt comfortable;

No sense of NHS trusts building a relationship with them over time. One in four comments from patient groups on NHS trusts' performance against the relevant core standard in the annual health check were negative. Most of these (80%) were about trusts failing to seek the views of patients and the public. About 50% were about how far, if at all, their views were taken into account.

People's views were not used routinely in planning and improving health services. Most trusts could provide some examples of using people's views, but few demonstrated they routinely took account of them when planning and improving services. In addition, few organisations described any evaluation of their work with patients to find out whether it made a difference to people or services. The Commission recommends trusts should be able to demonstrate that people are influencing their major service and commissioning decisions.


“Lord” Darzi take note.

"I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen." Ernest Hemingway


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