Giving NHS patients more say over the healthcare they receive is one of Tony Blair's top priorities for reforming the NHS. People are now offered a choice of four hospitals to be treated at, including a private one, and by 2008 their choice should be unrestricted.
Ministers have also urged the NHS to become more "consumer friendly", treating patients with the same promptness and respect as customers for other goods and services. They clearly haven't done any high street shopping for several years, let alone rung a call centre.
But are patients really so enthusistic about a consumerist approach to healthcare? A MORI poll last month found 76% of people felt they could only make a choice based on the advice of their GP, and a new report by the Economic and Social Research Council suggests patients have mixed feelings about becoming NHS customers.
While the ESRC found people were becoming less deferrential when dealing with hospitals and other public services, they were adamant that using these services was "not like shopping". For example, customers do not enjoy an ongoing relationship with those who provide them goods or services, unlike patients who may see the same GP for years. Many also felt consumerism did not sit well with the altruistic nature of the NHS. They considered they were not just funding their own treatment through taxation but "paying for a national service for everyone's benefit".
Coming soon after a survey that found people would prefer good local hospitals over a choice of several across the country, does this suggest Blair's NHS reforms are on the wrong track?
