Informed Choice: helping patients make better decisions

The research involves focus groups and online surveys.

Focus groups

• Seven focus groups were held in March 2009 with people from a variety of socio-demographic backgrounds (although not representative of the UK population). 
• The focus groups examined how patients use comparative performance information when deciding which hospital to attend and what factors are important to patients when choosing a hospital.
• This research assessed how educational levels, literacy and numeracy affect use and understanding of comparative performance information on hospitals.
• The focus groups also examined whether the quality of patient decision making can be improved by presenting comparative performance information in a more user-friendly format and the impact that this has on patients’ decisions (by education level, literacy and numeracy skill). 

Online surveys

• The online surveys were based on findings from the focus groups which suggested ways to enhance informed choice of hospital that patients make. We designed and conducted the online surveys to allow us to test the impact of alternative designs to those currently used on NHS Choices.
• This work sought to understand the short- and long-term effects of making informed choices, testing the understanding patients had when using these tools to make choices.