Should the NHS consider patients as customers?

[Northerner]

If NHS Wales considered patients as customers, would that improve their experience of care? It's a question I've been pondering since attending a recent 1000 Lives Improvement event which focused on the innovative Nuka healthcare system in Anchorage, Alaska.

Developed by the Southcentral Foundation, an Alaska nativeowned, non-profit system, it has been described by leading USA healthcare quality improvement expert Don Berwick as the "leading example of healthcare redesign in the nation, maybe the world."

The striking difference in the Nuka system of care is that instead of considering individuals who need healthcare as patients, they are seen as customers and owners of the services they require.

Now the idea of a patient as a customer might feel wrong in the context of the NHS, but in this case the term represented a shift from a service designed around a medical model to one where the patient's needs were put first.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/health/should-nhs-consider-patients-customers-6845528

 

[Mark T]

I think an equal stakeholder might be more correct.

From speaking to others, the more common issue is that some in the medical community speak down to their patients, like talking to a recalcitrant child. When we were staying down at my parents and my little boy started breathing very noisily, the GP we saw obviously was used to dealing with the hard of hearing OAPs as he spoke loudly and seemed to be more interested in giving advice then listening. That said, he was polite and the advice he gave was useful.

But you also don't want to swing to the "customer is always right" mantra.

 

[Copepod]

I agree with equal stakeholder concept, where both patients and staff have rights and responsibilities, rather than the customer is always right.

In the USA system of health care being provided mainly by insurance, healthcare provided for a Native / First Nation group by a not-for-profit organisation is likely to be much better for receivers of care.