I have done the same with the old National Drugs Helpline (I said I was
using Valium during the week to come down from ecsasy use at the
weekend, and asked if it was dangerous). Still not sure it was ethical,
though. And your asylum seeker question indeed produced useful results!
Jane
-----Original Message-----
From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of pip fisher
Sent: 22 August 2007 11:05
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Mystery Service Users / ethics?
I meet with a patient participation initiative group looking at asylum
seeker and refugee helath. They did a very small mystery shopper
exercise,
simply phoning up GP practices and saying
"I have a friend who is an asylum seeker. He would like to register
with
your practice. COuld you tell me how he can do that?"
For a simple exercise it gave very interesting results (lotsof "Oh no we
don't register asylum seekers").
Something as easy as that (my friend uses methadone can he register and
be
prescribed it) may pass an ethics committee and give good information on
access. Mystery shoppers are very good for finding out if what people
say
they are doing is actually what is being done. Very often the biggest
hurdle is at the reception, so mystery shoppers are good for testing
those.
Pip FIsher.
>From: Michael Shepherd <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Michael Shepherd <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Mystery Service Users / ethics?
>Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 10:37:50 +0100
>
>As it is not 'research', I' not sure that the 'mystery shopper' would
>go to
>an ethics committee -
>that's not to say that it is not questionable whether it is ethical and
I
>had a similar reaction to
>Jane's. Nonetheless, it raises some other really interesting
questions.
>
>I wonder about the cost-efficiency of mystery shopping - what is the
>marginal cost of the service -
>and what is the cost of mystery shopping? How does this fit into an
>overall strategy for quality
>assurance? Is it seen as an alternative to other forms of user led
>monitoring?
>
>Mike Shepherd
>
>Dr Michael Shepherd
>AWARD Senior Research Fellow
>Cardiff Institute of Society, Health & Ethics
>Cardiff University
>53 Park Place
>Cardiff CF10 3AT
>
>+44 (0)29 2087 0098
>[log in to unmask]
>www.awardresearch.org.uk
>www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/cishe
>
>
>
> >>> Jane Fountain <[log in to unmask]> 22/08/07 10:11 AM >>>
>Does it mean someone will go to services and pretend to need treatment?
>How? Or does it mean a current problematic substance user will be used
>as the mystery shopper? Although I like the idea, I would have thought
>this plan raised some serious ethical issues: I can't see it getting
>past ethics committees.
>I once wanted to go to a particular private doctor pretending to be a
>heroin injector, to show how easy it was to get prescribed drugs so
>long as the client could pay (I had been told by drug users I was
>studying that this was the case - back in the 1990s). However, the
>university I worked for at the time would not let me do this for
>ethical reasons. However, the Daily Star did it using a reporter and it
>was front-page news! Professor Jane Fountain
>
>Centre for Ethnicity and Health
>
>University of Central Lancashire
>
>Preston PR1 2HE
>
>UK
>
>tel: +44 (0)1772 892 780
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Deborah
Carr
> Sent: 21 August 2007 11:46
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Mystery Service Users
>
>
>
> Hi All
>
> I'm tasked with writing an action plan on how we could include
the use
>of Mystery service users (Mystery customers) to monitor drug and
>alcohol treatment services.
>
> Has anyone done this within a health/ treatment service?
>
> If so, I'd be grateful for tips and or any reports that you may
have
>and would like to share.
>
> With thanks
>
> Deborah Carr
>
> Diversity Officer
> Suffolk Drug & Alcohol Action Team
>
> Tel: 01473 265174
> Mobile: 07834 006151
> Fax: 01473 216889
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> Website: www.suffolkdaat.org.uk
>
>
>
>
> Scanned by MailDefender - managed email security from intY -
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