BMJ  2005;331:1199-1201 (19 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7526.1199

Education and debate

The NHS revolution: health care in the market place

What do patients and the public want from primary care?

¹ Picker Institute Europe, Oxford OX1 1RX angela.coulter@pickereurope.ac.uk

The government hopes that getting patients' views on their priorities for primary care will ensure support for its plans. It is likely to find patients care more about quality of care than structural or financial reform

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

The UK government has stated it wants the public to help shape the future of the health service. In the run-up to the planned publication of a white paper on care outside hospitals, Patricia Hewitt, secretary of state for health in England, is leading a big public engagement exercise to "genuinely involve patients, public and staff in designing family health and social care to meet the challenges of the 21st century."¹ The secretary of state's commitment to engaging directly with the public is commendable if it is a genuine attempt to listen and learn, but she should also take account of the extensive body of research evidence on what patients and the public want. Patients have diverse needs and expectations leading to different, and some-times conflicting, views on priorities,² but it is possible to discern themes. What does the evidence show?

Structure of primary care

A distinction can be made between what patients want . . . [Full text of this article]

Interpersonal care

Access

Choice and continuity

Shared decision making

Equity and participation

Conclusion

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Cheraghi-Sohi, S., Hole, A. R., Mead, N., McDonald, R., Whalley, D., Bower, P., Roland, M. (2008). What Patients Want From Primary Care Consultations: A Discrete Choice Experiment to Identify Patients' Priorities. Ann Fam Med 6: 107-115 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Wentz, R. (2006). Reactions to the chief medical officer's report: Where are patients' voices?. BMJ 333: 1072-1072 [Full text]  
• Irvine, D. (2006). Success relies on winning hearts and minds. BMJ 333: 965-966 [Full text]  
• Irvine, D. (2006). Good doctors: safer patients--the Chief Medical Officer's prescription for regulating doctors. JRSM 99: 430-432 [Full text]  
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• Bate, P., Robert, G. (2005). Choice. BMJ 331: 1488-1489 [Full text]  

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