Information for Doctors
- Continuously monitor your own performance
- Free service to help you become a better doctor
- Free and simple way to collect patient satisfaction data
Often under great pressure, doctors strive to deliver excellent care in a manner that builds trust, confidence and respect in our patients. We’d like to think we achieve these aims most of the time, but if you are totally honest do you really know what your patients think about you?
This is of course a matter of much more than just curiosity or professional pride. The quality of relationships with patients is predictive of clinical outcomes, patient compliance and the risk of litigation. Therefore it is surprising there has never been a system to let those of us delivering clinical care to monitor how we perform in this respect.
iWantGreatCare is a new service that allows you to see in real-time how you are meeting the expectations of your patients. Best of all, it gives the easiest, quickest and cheapest (it’s free!) way to collect regular, large-scale feedback from patients.
Listen, trust, recommend
Simply ask your patients to go to www.iWantGreatCare.org and use the unique, easy to use slider system to record their feedback on how well you listened, whether they trust you and whether they would recommend you. To make it more convenient for you, reminder cards to hand to patients will be available from August 08.
iWantGreatCare, July 2008
iWantGreatCare doctors' charter
- The aim of iWantGreatCare will be at all times to provide a high quality, professional service of value to doctors and their patients.
- iWantGreatCare has developed, and will improve, a multi-layered security system with the aim of reducing the chances of people abusing the system and - in particular - to help detect malicious or inaccurate views.
- iWantGreatCare endeavours to ensure that all details on doctors are accurate and up to date.
- Doctors will have instant access to their information and full ability to update this whenever necessary.
- Any user attempting to post damaging reviews about a doctor, or making a posting that breaches the terms of use, will be liable to permanent exclusion from the service.
- iWantGreatCare will consult with the Information Commissioner's Office about its processing of personal data. iWantGreatCare aims to exceed all aspects of the Data Protection Act.
- iWantGreatCare will contact each doctor when a rating or review on them is first added. This communication will fully explain the service, how it will benefit their practice, and include full information on what to do if they should ever have concerns about comments posted by their patients.
- Doctors will be able to report any inappropriate review or comment made about them and any such report will be investigated by iWantGreatCare.
- iWantGreatCare will co-operate with law enforcement authorities or other relevant third parties in tracing any person who uses the system unlawfully.
- An advisory board of independent professionals and doctors will support and guide the principles of the service.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the patient experience and patients’ assessment of your communication skills so important?
How can iWantGreatCare help me as a doctor?
How do I get my patients to give me feedback?
I'm not in the list of doctors, how do I add my details so my patients can review my care?
What do I do if I work as a locum in different locations?
How do I use this as part of my appraisal/revalidation?
How does my practice/Trust register for iWantGreatCare?
Why did you create iWantGreatCare?
Is experience of other patients a valid tool to help people find great care?
How do you maintain standards and ensure the system is valid?
How do you prevent abuse of the system?
What about doctors trying to cheat the system?
Who has access to the information about doctors?
I’ve had a bad review, what can I do?
I want to remove my details from the site
I objectively believe this is damaging to doctors, can’t you just drop this whole idea
Why is the patient experience and patients’ assessment of your communication skills so important?
It is clear from the evidence base that effective communication improves clinical outcomes, improves patient satisfaction, reduces the risk of medical errors and reduces the risk of litigation. The evidence also clearly reports patients can effectively judge doctors' communication skills to this effect. If you are aware of any peer-reviewed evidence that contradicts this summary, please email details to adminservices@iwantgreatcare.org.
How can iWantGreatCare help me as a doctor?
Using iWantGreatCare empowers you to:
- Show your patients that you are open, aware and focused on their experience as a central part of their care.
- Build up a longitudinal record of patient comments to support your continuing professional development and improve your competitiveness in job applications.
- Easily and instantly enables you to continually collect and analyse feedback from your patients.
How do I get my patients to give me feedback?
Ask your patients to go to www.iWantGreatCare.org and provide their feedback by simply searching for your entry and using the easy-to-use slider system to rate their experience. Their feedback will be anonymous. From August 2008 it will be possible to have reminder cards printed for you to distribute. GPs and doctors in outpatients settings have already informed iWantGreatCare that asking clinic receptionists to remind patients and including a reminder on outpatient letters is effective.
I'm not in the list of doctors, how do I add my details so my patients can review my care?
After checking you are not listed in search results for your surname, click on the "Doctors, add yourself now" button. This will allow you to submit your title, forename, surname, specialty and place of work to iWantGreatCare. As soon as your details are then checked by iWantGreatCare, your patients will be able to review your care.
What do I do if I work as a locum in different locations?
If you work in different locations you can add the different locations at which you work by editing your information. By including your multiple places of work your patients will be able to review you accurately. Your patients will also be asked to review the location in which they were seen so it is important they identify the correct location. If a patient sees you at a location not in your profile, they can add it and it will be checked by the iWantGreatCare team.
How do I use this as part of my appraisal/revalidation?
Doctors already use patient feedback as part of routine annual assessments. By simply encouraging your patients to rate and review you on iWantGreatCare, you can print out your personal page at anytime to meet these new requirements. You can also request email alerts informing you each time you have a new review added. If you have any suggestions for how to make this more useful, please email your ideas to adminservices@iwantgreatcare.org.
How does my practice/Trust register for iWantGreatCare?
There is no need to register for your organisation to use iWantGreatCare to collect information on the experience of your patients. You can use the service free of charge right now. Simply check that the details for each of the doctors in your team are up to date and update any information that is inaccurate. Then ask your patients to go to www.iWantGreatCare.org and provide their feedback by simply searching for your entry and using the easy-to-use slider to rate their experience. Their feedback will be anonymous.
From August 2008 it will be possible to have reminder cards printed for you to distribute. GPs and doctors in outpatients settings have already informed iWantGreatCare that asking clinic receptionists to remind patients and including a reminder on outpatient letters is effective. If you would like posters to display in patient waiting areas, please email your thoughts and ideas to adminservices@iwantgreatcare.org.
By subscribing to an iWantGreatCare dashboard, your organisation can get continuous, real-time, automated patient satisfaction reports including anonymous comparison with other healthcare providers, i.e. not naming individual doctors. This enables healthcare providers to meet regulatory requirements in a modern, efficient and cost-effective way. Please email adminservices@iwantgreatcare.org if you would like to learn more about this service.
Why did you create iWantGreatCare?
To help patients get great care and help doctors give great care. Satisfied patients will be able to thank their doctors and alert other patients to caring excellence. Caring doctors will be able to use an innovative and independent method to further build trusting relationships with their patients. iWantGreatCare will highlight what a great job the vast majority of doctors do, and to make it easy for doctors to show that they are open, willing and keen to have honest feedback from all their patients.
iWantGreatCare will make sure UK patients and their doctors have a great service for doctor ratings and reviews - run by professional people totally focused on quality healthcare and improving clinical outcomes. Experience from overseas and other professions makes it quite clear that patient rating of doctors is going to happen in this country (indeed it is already happening), but there is a high risk of it being done badly by people just trying to make money, and without adequate protection for patients or doctors.
Is experience of other patients a valid tool to help people find great care?
There isn't yet a study that proves this is the case. It is absolutely clear though that patients' ratings of their experiences can predict doctors who deliver good clinical outcomes, and that for the best clinical results patients need to be able to choose doctors whose style suits their needs and preferences. Being able to read reviews and ratings of a doctor’s style and skill in communication will help patients choose the doctor most likely to maximise the impact of these evidence-based benefits on their own clinical outcomes. Interestingly, studies show that when doctors have to choose a doctor for themselves or their family they rely largely and most often on the experiences of their peers – iWantGreatCare gives patients this same right and ability.
iWantGreatCare is working with a number of groups to set-up independent research studies to help doctors and their organisations better understand how to use this new information source and find ways to continually improve the service. If you would like to contribute to the development of this evidence base using a local study, please email your thoughts and ideas to adminservices@iwantgreatcare.org.
How do you maintain standards and ensure the system is valid?
iWantGreatCare has an Advisory Board to support, guide and monitor the service. This Advsiory Board has particular expertise in the areas of recording and assessing patient experience, patient outcomes, knowledge management in healthcare and clinical trials of patient involvement. Membership of the Advisory Board is listed on the “About” page.
How do you prevent abuse of the system?
iWantGreatCare uses a range of automated, statistical and technical solutions to help it detect spurious or malicious ratings and reviews. Doctors and patients are encouraged to report reviews that might not be genuine.
It is easier (unfortunately) for an individual to abuse traditional systems (such as complaints procedures, etc) to attack a doctor, than it is to do so through iWantGreatCare.
What about doctors trying to cheat the system?
Evidence of professional misconduct will always be reported to the General Medical Council.
Who has access to the information about doctors?
All reviews and ratings made are publicly available on the site to anyone who cares to search. Only anonymous information will be used in iWantGreatCare dashboards for use by primary care trusts and other healthcare organisations.
I’ve had a bad review, what can I do?
If you think a review breaks the law, or is extreme in any way please click the “Report this review” link on the review, add your email address when prompted and then click the button that invites you to "Report this review". You will receive an email that contains a link to confirm that you wish to report a review. Once this link is clicked, the iWantGreatCare team will be alerted and review the posting against the Terms of Use of iWantGreatCare.
I want to remove my details from the site
Any requests to remove doctors' information from iWantGreatCare will be dealt with in accordance with the Data Protection Act. The Information Commissioner's Office has confirmed the Commissioner is satisfied iWantGreatCare complies with the principles of the Data Protection Act. The data on iWantGreatCare is sourced from a commercially available database of UK doctors or added directly by patients, carers and colleagues. If you would like to make a request please use the following form.
I objectively believe this is damaging to doctors, can't you just drop this whole idea?
Respectfully, no. It is clear from the evidence base that effective communication improves clinical outcomes, improves patient satisfaction, reduces the risk of medical errors and reduces the risk of litigation. The evidence also clearly reports patients can effectively judge doctors' communication skills to this effect. If you are aware of any peer-reviewed evidence that contradicts this summary, please email details to adminservices@iwantgreatcare.org.
If you are fixed in your belief that iWantGreatCare is damaging to doctors, please consider that iWantGreatCare is advised by a range of respected doctors and the emerging requirements for revalidation make patient ratings of your care fundamental to the measurement of your work. It is also clear, even with superficial knowledge of medical history, that this is not the first and will certainly not be the last new way of working that is challenging for some doctors.
Who runs iWantGreatCare
iWantGreatCare was invented by Dr Neil Bacon, the nephrologist who founded Doctors.net.uk, the professional website used by tens of thousands of doctors daily for their professional needs. It has a management team that combines the knowledge and experience needed to launch and maintain a web-based service for doctors and the public during a period of continuous change in the NHS.
The iWantGreatCare management team passionately believe that by empowering patients to share their experience, knowledge and opinions we can drive changes and improvements in the health service that will benefit all. iWantGreatCare believes that patients and their carers need to be fully engaged in the future of healthcare services, and this means having effective, meaningful ways to exercise choice.
The evidence base for patient engagement using ratings for patient satisfaction is developing at pace. iWantGreatCare will work with local organisations to implement studies to provide answers for the most urgent research questions. Please contact adminservices@iwantgreatcare.org if you would like to get involved with a local research project. In your email please inform iWantGreatCare what research question you would like to answer and why. If you have other questions that have not been answered in the sections above, please contact us.