Doctors claim study on patient choice suppressed
John Carvel, social affairs editor
Guardian, Monday January 1, 2007
The Department of Health appears to have removed a research
report from its website because the findings would have
discredited the government's programme aimed at giving NHS
patients more choice, doctors' leaders claimed last night.
The research, commissioned by the department, found that people
did not want to have to select a hospital while they were
seriously ill, preferring such decisions to be made by a trusted GP.
It said there was no evidence that greater choice would improve
quality of care, and good reason to fear it would benefit only
the wealthy and articulate.
The British Medical Association took copies of a summary of the
research that appeared on the department's website last month
under the department's official logo. It made them available to
the Guardian after the online version disappeared.
The study was commissioned in 2004 by the health department's
research arm, the NHS service delivery and organisation R&D
programme. Its summary found that patients wanted better
information about treatment options but thought they were given
too little information to be able to exercise choice effectively.
But a department spokesman said: "The views they came up with
were not those of the [department] and the logo was used without
our permission. We raised the issue of the logo and asked for it
to be removed. We were not aware that they would take the whole
thing off."
Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, has insisted over the
past year that patients want more choice. By 2008, patients
needing non-emergency treatment will be entitled to choose any
NHS hospital in England and any private hospital that meets NHS
standards.
But according to the commissioned study, by researchers at
Manchester and Cardiff universities: "Most severely ill patients
face complex treatment options and prefer decisions to be made
on their behalf by a well-informed and trusted health
professional. Evidence that patients want the opportunity to
select a distant hospital for non-urgent surgery is limited to
situations where [they] face a long wait for a local hospital
appointment and where there is a history of poor service."
Their summary said: "Wealthy and educated populations will be
the main beneficiaries of a policy of extending patient choice,
unless measures are introduced to help disadvantaged groups."
Hamish Meldrum, the BMA's GP chairman, said: "The paper supports
a lot of what doctors knew instinctively about patients and
choice. At times when patients' needs are not particularly
urgent they may appreciate choice ... in an emergency, patients
tend to want to go where their doctor recommends."
The department spokesman said a full version of the research was
published a year ago. "The summary paper reflected the personal
view of the researcher and did not present a balanced summary of
the actual research, which does not find that offering choice is
misguided."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1980816,00.html
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