Patient preferences of general practice services: a discrete choice experiment

Public is becoming more knowledgeable and informed about health care and consequently is expecting more from the services provided. To meet these increased demands, policy makers are looking at ways of delivering health care services more efficiently and effectively, and including patients’ preferences in planning. This study investigates patients’ preferences of general practice clinics using a discrete choice experiment (DCE) survey questionnaire. The DCE questionnaire presents a series of choices involving alternative services on offer, described by their particular characteristics at a range of levels. Based on the assumption that, in each question, respondents choose the service that they value most, the DCE method allows to: identify the characteristics of the health care service that respondents value; the relative values that they attach to these; and the trade-offs between them (e.g. how long patients are willing to wait to receive appropriate care). A DCE questionnaire was tested with 57 respondents in order to value patients’ preferences for general practice services in London. Respondents valued: having a very good likelihood of receiving appropriate care; having access to an appointment within the next two days; being listened to and receiving satisfactory responses to questions; short waiting times in the clinic; and short travelling times to the clinic. Findings from the study informed a DCE questionnaire that will be used in larger DCE study within the European Union Cross Border Care Collaboration (EUCBCC) project. Results will provide policy implications for participating general practice clinics, and for the wider EU policy community.