GP ratings site criticised by rival

Tags: BMA DH feedback GP GPs iwantgreatcare.org NHS Choices Rating

20 Oct 2009

The GP practice rating service launched by NHS Choices received 1,600 comments in its first 24 hours of operation, according to the Department of Health.

A DH spokesperson told EHI Primary Care that about 80% of the comments received were positive and said it would continue to monitor the number and type of comments made.

The GP practice ratings service received a lukewarm welcome from the BMA, which has worked with the DH to develop the site.

It said it was pleased that many of its concerns about issues such as malicious postings and the ability to post a right of reply had been listened to - but questioned the value of the service.

The website has also been criticised by Dr Neil Bacon, founder of rival site iwantgreatcare.org, who claimed it was too little, too late.

He told EHI Primary Care: “What patients want and what doctors want is to know how good individual clinicians are. It doesn’t really help anyone to have a practice average rating when most practices have a few really good doctors, a few average ones and one or two who are not good.”

Dr Bacon said his own site now included more than 40,000 views, of which around 90% were positive.

The site has also expanded to offer its services to primary care trusts and NHS trusts seeking more detailed feedback from patients about individual doctors. Dr Bacon said contracts included NHS Milton Keynes, where the primary care trust is encouraging patients to rate their GPs using iwantgreatcare.org.

He claimed a ‘tiny minority’ were concerned about anonymous comments being made about individual doctors. iwantgreatcare.org is also expanding to cover other groups such as dentists, pharmacists and nursing homes.

Fiona Barr

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Reader's Comments

How am I driving?

20 Oct 09 17:10

Not too well Dr Bacon - your database is at least 5 years out of date - who gave you permission to list all the doctors in there anyway? and where did you get it from and on what basis were the details of the doctors obtained??

The huge irony here of course for Dr Bacon is that he actually needs to find a ratings page on NHS Choices to vent his anger and yet there is nowhere on NHSC where he can let his feelings be indelibly known.

How very surprising then that for one so openly supportive of the benefit of ratings sites and quick to criticise his competitors, that he doesn't even offer one on his own site now that is rich - visitors can of course send comments - who knows what happens to them - has anyone who reads these pages tried?

Smoked Bacon

20 Oct 09 21:10

I'm not sure i understand Mr Bacon's argument: he seems to be saying that it's better for trusts/PCTs to buy into his product (at some considerable expence) because it holds reviews on individuals, rather than hospitals and GP practices.

But trusts/PCTs are surely more interested in hospitals and GP practices? Isnt it hospitals and GP practices that they run?

Also, the new NHS Choices system has some benefits:

- the form of its ratings have been negotiated and agreed centrally and reflect national contracts/standards - comments are pre-moderated (so obsessives and others who will distort the data are cut out) - hospitals/ GP Practices are alerted to new comments about them and offered a right of reply which is visible to all

But here's the thing that really makes no sense: why would a PCT pay for a private rating system from someone like Mr Bacon when the NHS website (which has far greater reach) provides one centrally and for free?

Any PCT manager can take a feed of the NHS Choices ratings/comments for absolutely nothing and filter them as they wish to see the good and poor performers in their area.

With big cuts said to be on the way, this is exactly this sort of digital efficiency gain that we should all be taking advantage of.

I respect Mr Bacon's chutzpah but is trying to get us to pay twice!

NHS Choices is not 'FREE'

21 Oct 09 12:10

in response to comment 2

According to a report in HSJ (see link below) Capita who were awarded the contract to run NHS Choices last November said in a statement to the stock market that it was worth £60m over 3 years with an option to extend for a further 2 years.

At £20m per year I'm not sure anyone can regard NHS Choices as FREE. No extra charge maybe but certainly not FREE

http://www.hsj.co.uk/capita-beats-dr-foster-to-nhs-choices-contract/1737482.article

When you consider that there are numerous other multi million pound surveys that are continuously undertaken by the NHS via third parties and that £15m was reported to have been spent on one survey alone commissioned by Lord Darzi 18 months ago, it beggars belief that we want to see yet more surveys and ratings and so on. General Practice also has to regularly survey its patients and act on the feedback it receives - this is a good approach and patients can also use the PALS service to register any concerns that they have.

Parallels are often drawn with internet rating sites like trip advisor, amazon, ebay and so on. There is NO comparison, in these cases users have transacted through the sites involved and therefore could be considered to have a bone fide right to rate the service or goods they received. Compare that to an open ended and anonymous approach as in both NHS Choices and Dr Bacon's site.

Think this one through - patient A leaves a rating For Dr X on Dr Bacon's site, Dr X moves to a new Practice, what happens to his rating?. Does it move with him - hardly likely? How would the move be managed?