Britons reluctant to use the web to criticise doctors...
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Britons reluctant to use the web to criticise doctors...
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There was a story in the papers this weekend about how Britons are less willing to give feedback about their doctors or the health service they received online. A Patient Opinion survey found that 43%
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Britons reluctant to use the web to criticise doctors...
posted at 1/10/2012 10:09 AM BST
on bmj.com
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*Moderator*
Posts: 1436
First: 7/4/2011 Last: 17/5/2013 |
There was a story in the papers this weekend about how Britons are less willing to give feedback about their doctors or the health service they received online. A Patient Opinion survey found that 43% of us leave reviews about hotels, 25% for restaurants, 22% for gadgets but only 16% do so for healthcare. Is healthcare different in this respect? Why are people more reluctant to post reviews about their doctor? I'm always a bit sceptical about reviews and comments online. I think you are probably more likely to want to write something if you have had a bad experience. We expect things to work and it is only when things do not make our expectations that we kick up a fuss. I wonder whether people are less inclined to complain about the NHS because it is free? Or maybe because satisfaction is relatively high? However, as we have seen in recent weeks, the number of complaints to the GMC about doctors has risen. Perhaps there aren't the channels to complain online? |
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Re: Britons reluctant to use the web to criticise doctors...
posted at 1/10/2012 12:34 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1258
First: 13/4/2010 Last: 18/5/2013 |
I have no problems with patients complaining on-line or anywhere else - but only when the systems are in palce to ensure that vexatious complainers are pursued and, if necessary, prosecuted. That's called a level playing field. At present if a patient makes a complaint against a doctor that is clearly mischievous or vexatious the GMC suggest we shouldn't pursue them. That seems to me to be inherently unfair. |
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Re: Britons reluctant to use the web to criticise doctors...
posted at 1/10/2012 3:29 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1177
First: 19/4/2010 Last: 16/5/2013 |
I know of a doctor who had a complaint written against them suggesting that by witholding a medication (which the doctor thought was not indicated, but the patient disagreed), they were "guilty of attempted murder". The health board wrote out swiftly to the patient stating that they do not tolerate abuse towards their staff, and any further allegations of this sort would be referred directly to the police. The complaint went no further. |
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Re: Britons reluctant to use the web to criticise doctors...
posted at 1/10/2012 6:26 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2034
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 17/5/2013 |
Exactly the same approach, anonymous, unmoderated criticism of hotels, has got the TripAdvisor webiste into trouble: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jan/25/tripadvisor-duncan-bannatyne. What steps are Patient Opinion taking to ensure that the comments it publishes are any more considered and substantial? And what use can they be? A search on Patient Opinion for my own hospital found, I am glad to say, that favourable opinions outweighed unfavourable by 5:1. But what are we to make of such a collection, when an opinion headed "Unpleasant in the extreme" is about a lack of information before a CT scan, with a complaint of lack of courtesy. John |
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Re: Britons reluctant to use the web to criticise doctors...
posted at 1/10/2012 7:25 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 324
First: 23/12/2011 Last: 3/5/2013 |
i think it is positive that people are reluctant to criticise doctors. Too many times, the internet has been used and abused to try to tear into doctors in a rash moment of anger. What they dont realise sometimes that it has a much wider effects than simply criticising that doctor. I feel that as others have said, the methods of criticising doctors need to be stringent and well understood so that it is used as a constructive and not destructive means of feedback |
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