ABSTRACT
Whilst the tradition of ‘listening to the patients’ is almost as long as the NHS itself, the prominence given to the patient satisfaction survey can be traced back to the Griffiths Report (DHSS, 1983) which encouraged the use of market research to obtain consumers’ views. Purchasing authorities have been urged to pay more heed to locally expressed views of the quality of the service since the early 1990s (NHSME, 1992). It has also been recognized for about the same length of time that in judging the quality of hospital services, the judgments of patients alongside their clinicians is an intrinsic part of the quality measurement process (Batalden and Nelson, 1990).
