Does Choose & Book fail to deliver the expected choice to patients? A survey of patients' experience of outpatient appointment booking.
BACKGROUND
Choose and Book is a central part of the UK Government patient choice agenda that seeks to provide patients with a choice over the time, date and place of their first outpatient appointment. This is done through the use of a computerised booking system. After a 2004 pilot study, Choose and Book was formally launched in January 2006. This is the first study of patient experience of Choose and Book since then.


METHODS
A questionnaire survey of reported experience of choice over the time, data and place of appointment, carried out in a National Health Service hospital in London. 104 patients at their first outpatient appointment completed the questionnaire, consisting of a consecutive series of patients referred through Choose and Book and a sample referred through the conventional booking system.


RESULTS
Among the Choose and Book patients, 66% (31/47; 95% CI 52 to 78%) reported not being given a choice of appointment date, 66% (31/47; 95% CI 52 to 78%) reported not being given a choice of appointment time, 86% (37/43; 95% CI 74 to 94%) reported being given a choice of fewer than four hospitals in total and 32% (15/47; 95% CI 20 to 46%) reported not being given any choice of hospital.


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, patients did not experience the degree of choice that Choose and Book was designed to deliver.
Green
Judith
J
CHIME, University College London, Whittington Campus, Highgate Hill, London, N19 5LW, UK . Judith.Green@thh.nhs.uk
McDowall
Zoe
Z
Potts
Henry W W
HW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018579:Patient Selection; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000592:standards; D013222:State Medicine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom; D014850:Waiting Lists