The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The introduction of integrated out-of-hours arrangements in England: a discrete choice experiment of public preferences for alternative models of care

The introduction of integrated out-of-hours arrangements in England: a discrete choice experiment of public preferences for alternative models of care
The introduction of integrated out-of-hours arrangements in England: a discrete choice experiment of public preferences for alternative models of care
Objective: To establish which generic attributes of general practice out-of-hours health services are important to the public.

Methods: A discrete choice experiment postal survey conducted in three English general practitioner (GP) co-operatives. A total of 871 individuals aged 20–70?years registered with a GP. Outcomes were preferences for, and trade-offs between: time to making initial contact, time waiting for advice/treatment, informed of expected waiting time, type of contact, professional providing advice, chance contact relieves anxiety, and utility estimates for valuing current models of care.

Results: Response rate was 37%. Respondents valued out-of-hours contact for services for reducing anxiety but this was not the only attribute of importance. They had preferences for the way in which services were organized and valued information about expected waiting time, supporting findings from elsewhere. Participants were most willing to make trade-offs between waiting time and professional person. Of the predicted utility for three models of care utility was higher for fully integrated call management.

Conclusions: Greater utility might be achieved if existing services are re-configured more in line with the government's fully integrated call management model. Because the attributes were described in generic terms, the findings can be applied more generally to the plethora of models that exist (and many that might exist in the future). The approach used is important for achieving greater public involvement in how health services develop. Few experiments have elicited public preferences for health services in the UK to date. This study showed valid preferences were expressed but there were problems obtaining representative views from the public.
integrated out-of-hours, discrete choice experiment, public preference, models of care, health economics
1369-6513
60-69
Gerard, Karen
1aef0321-add2-425f-8cd6-48f1adeef928
Lattimer, Val
5aa2c9a5-13cb-4776-9b0d-c618e6913f5b
Surridge, Heidi
6ad097a0-255b-4ce1-8698-32347557f6e1
George, Steve
bdfc752b-f67e-4490-8dc0-99bfaeb046ca
Turnbull, Joanne
d05b07da-b692-4378-ae60-1394cd633855
Burgess, Abigail
b50e6999-9cb5-4d84-a79b-57111a45e797
Lathlean, Judith
98a74375-c265-47d2-b75b-5f0f3e14c1a9
Smith, Helen
e9ebdc59-6964-49b5-a2cd-b76d58ab77e1
Gerard, Karen
1aef0321-add2-425f-8cd6-48f1adeef928
Lattimer, Val
5aa2c9a5-13cb-4776-9b0d-c618e6913f5b
Surridge, Heidi
6ad097a0-255b-4ce1-8698-32347557f6e1
George, Steve
bdfc752b-f67e-4490-8dc0-99bfaeb046ca
Turnbull, Joanne
d05b07da-b692-4378-ae60-1394cd633855
Burgess, Abigail
b50e6999-9cb5-4d84-a79b-57111a45e797
Lathlean, Judith
98a74375-c265-47d2-b75b-5f0f3e14c1a9
Smith, Helen
e9ebdc59-6964-49b5-a2cd-b76d58ab77e1

Gerard, Karen, Lattimer, Val, Surridge, Heidi, George, Steve, Turnbull, Joanne, Burgess, Abigail, Lathlean, Judith and Smith, Helen (2006) The introduction of integrated out-of-hours arrangements in England: a discrete choice experiment of public preferences for alternative models of care. Health Expectations, 9 (1), 60-69. (doi:10.1111/j.1369-7625.2006.00365.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: To establish which generic attributes of general practice out-of-hours health services are important to the public.

Methods: A discrete choice experiment postal survey conducted in three English general practitioner (GP) co-operatives. A total of 871 individuals aged 20–70?years registered with a GP. Outcomes were preferences for, and trade-offs between: time to making initial contact, time waiting for advice/treatment, informed of expected waiting time, type of contact, professional providing advice, chance contact relieves anxiety, and utility estimates for valuing current models of care.

Results: Response rate was 37%. Respondents valued out-of-hours contact for services for reducing anxiety but this was not the only attribute of importance. They had preferences for the way in which services were organized and valued information about expected waiting time, supporting findings from elsewhere. Participants were most willing to make trade-offs between waiting time and professional person. Of the predicted utility for three models of care utility was higher for fully integrated call management.

Conclusions: Greater utility might be achieved if existing services are re-configured more in line with the government's fully integrated call management model. Because the attributes were described in generic terms, the findings can be applied more generally to the plethora of models that exist (and many that might exist in the future). The approach used is important for achieving greater public involvement in how health services develop. Few experiments have elicited public preferences for health services in the UK to date. This study showed valid preferences were expressed but there were problems obtaining representative views from the public.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

Published date: March 2006
Keywords: integrated out-of-hours, discrete choice experiment, public preference, models of care, health economics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 19224
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/19224
ISSN: 1369-6513
PURE UUID: 6505c55c-88d1-4a00-8a16-e8d51d939d9b

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Feb 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 06:13

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Karen Gerard
Author: Val Lattimer
Author: Heidi Surridge
Author: Steve George
Author: Joanne Turnbull
Author: Abigail Burgess
Author: Judith Lathlean
Author: Helen Smith

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×