The United Kingdom's Department of Health plans to launch a Web site that will let patients post reviews of the care they received from physicians and hospitals, E-Health Insider reports.
The goal of the Web site is to help residents make health care decisions by providing them with more information about hospitals and physicians. The Department of Health also hopes the site will encourage any physician or hospital that receives negative reviews to improve their performance.
The Web site will be launched after the completion at the end of March of a new National Patient Choice Survey, E-Health Insider reports. The site initially will include only hospital reviews and later will be expanded to include physicians. A Web site moderator will ensure that reviews on the site are not defamatory.
"Genuinely empowering people to exercise choice is essential to creating an even better, more responsive" National Health Service, said U.K. Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, adding, "Our aim is to provide a simple world class public information resource that any patient can access to make a more informed choice about their health care."
British Medical Association Chair Hamish Meldrum said the site "seems a little bit gimmicky and superficial." He added that "people tend to go to these things when they have complaints rather than when they are satisfied, so it may tend to favor the complainers rather than those in favor" (E-Health Insider, 1/24).