16th December 2002

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With the biggest ever shake-up in Northern Ireland’s acute health care due to be announced next month, a survey has revealed that 78% of people believe that “nobody takes any notice of the views of local people when deciding to close hospitals”.

The research based on the Life and Times survey – a joint project between Queen’s University and the University of Ulster –was conducted by Dr. Ann Marie Gray, a lecturer in the School of Policy Studies and Professor Dorothy Whittington, Professor of Health Psychology in the School of Nursing at the University of Ulster.

Professor Whittington said: “This may not be surprising given recent and ongoing controversy about plans for acute health care in Northern Ireland. However they are important findings at a time when decisions are being made about the configuration of services and NHS structures here”.

Their report - Attitudes to Health Information and Public Involvement in Healthcare – examined how the public accesses information on health related issues, who people trust to give them the facts and the involvement of communities in decisions which affect them.

Other key points to emerge from the research included:

• Doctors or other health professionals remain the most frequently used source of health related information with 87% of people seeking their advice.
• Northern Ireland people (18%) use the Internet far less than Europeans (32%) or Americans (43%) for health information.

Those who use the Internet are more likely to be from younger age groups, to be better educated, to be in non-manual occupations and to have Internet access at home – reflecting Northern Ireland’s digital divide

• However the Internet is the most commonly used source for people seeking a second opinion or confirmation of something their doctor has told them. Some 38% of people use the Internet in this way, with books (34%), a friend or relative who is a health professional (28%) and another doctor or health professional (27%) as the next most popular sources.
• In spite of well-publicised medical scandals such as the death of children after heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary and the murder of patients by Dr Harold Shipman, there is still widespread public trust in doctors. The vast majority of respondents (89%) agreed or strong agreed that doctors should be respected for the difficult job they do although 58% strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that “there have been so many medical scandals that people just can’t trust doctors as much as they used to”.
• A big majority of people (76%) believed that it is essential that people living in an area should have a say if big changes to the health service were to be made. A further 20% believed this to be important.
• Opinion was split on whether “nowadays the Government is better at involving the public in decisions about health care planning, with 37% agreeing or strong agreeing that it was and 40% disagreeing.

Professor Whittington said: “The survey was designed to assess how the public of Northern Ireland accessed information on health care, how much they knew about how health care is organised and the extent to which they wished to have a say in health policy.”

The results showed that women are more likely than men to use the Internet for health related information and are also more likely to seek out information on behalf of another family member.

A sizeable proportion of people (36%) are also likely to seek more information if told by their GP that they have a serious illness which required further tests. These were more likely to be young, better educated and in a non-manual occupation and also more likely to be female.

Professor Whittington added: “The evidence shows that the Northern Irish public continues to place considerable faith in the medical profession. While people do appear to be concerned with medical scandals the vast majority of respondents agreed that doctors should be respected for the difficult job they do. In all, the data emerging from this Life and Times survey suggest that public trust in doctors remains intact”.

The survey also showed a low level of public knowledge on how the NHS works and is organised. Just over half (53%) had heard of the Patients’ Charter while only 23% knew about the health watchdog bodies, the Health and Social Services Councils. Around one in three people did not know who to complain to about their GP and 26% did not know who to contact if they had to wait at least 18 months for treatment.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk