Public want ‘cleaner hospitals not choice’
Government funding of the NHS should be directed towards cleaner hospitals instead of promoting choice, according to a new survey.
Amid public concern over MRSA and other hospital acquired infections – a key general election issue – cleaner hospitals came out top of the public’s list of priorities for Government spending on the NHS.
It was followed by improved accident and emergency provision, and shorter waits for out-patient appointments, research for the British Medical Association found.
But, in a blow for the Government’s much trumpeted choice agenda, the choice of where to have an operation came bottom of the list of ten priorities.
It was lower on the list of priorities than spending more time with a doctor and better hospital food.
BMA chairman James Johnson said: “This survey shows what is most important to the public. Patients are obviously extremely worried about hospital acquired infections and quite rightly patients want their hospitals to be clean, they want improved A&E services, shorter waits and increased funding for research and new treatment.
“It seems what is not so important to them is the choice of where to have their operation. The BMA has been saying for a long time that patients are not so interested in a choice of five hospitals but they want a good service, in a clean local hospital.”
The research, carried out for the British Medical Association by YouGov Omnibus, saw members of the public given a list of possible ways in which the Government might spend money on improving the NHS. They were asked to give each item a score from 0 to 10, where 0 was “wholly unimportant” and 10 was “very important”.
Cleaner hospitals headed the list with a score of 9.23, while improved accident and emergency care scored 8.52 and shorter waits for out-patients appointments scored 8.42.
At the other end of the list, better hospital food was in ninth place scoring 6.51 out of 10, while the choice of where to have an operation received only a score of 6.43.
Barbara Wood, co-chair of the BMA’s patient liaison group said: “These figures suggest that quick and easy access to services – particularly Accident and Emergency – is a higher priority for patients than being able to choose where they go.
“While members of the public want shorter waiting times, they don’t appear to share the Government’s view that more choice is the only way to get them. It’s interesting that more investment in public health, and research into new treatments, both make the top five.
“The Government should take this as a sign of strong public support for investment in research, the prevention of illness, and the need for a strong academic base to underpin the work of the NHS.”
The research comes ahead of the BMA’s annual conference, which begins on Monday. Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt will address the conference on Tuesday.
