Thirteenth Panel Report
The thirteenth Citizens' Panel survey was carried out between November 2023 and February 2024.
The survey asked questions on two topics:
- how people prefer to access health and care services
- the NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy
A total of 589 responses (57% response rate) were received, either by post, email or by telephone. This level of return provides data accurate to +/-4% at the overall Panel level. In this report we do not report results broken down into sub-categories (for example, gender or age) as they are not statistically significant. All comparisons that are made in this report are statistically significant, unless otherwise stated.
How people prefer to access health and care services
The Chief Executives of NHS Scotland health boards meet regularly to discuss strategic health policy and operational decisions. At a recent meeting of the NHS Chief Executives Group there was discussion about trying to better understand public preference on accessing health and care services.
To help with this understanding, Panel members were asked about their preferences for accessing services, as well as booking appointments and how to access information. This revealed that telephone contact was the most popular method of booking appointments with over half (52%) stating this was their first preference. On the other hand, face-to-face contact was more important for respondents when attending appointments or consulting a health care professional (89%) and when seeking advice about healthcare conditions (54%). The first preference for seeking information about health and care services was by accessing information online from a trusted source with 38% stating this would be their first preference, however this was very closely followed by face to face (30%) and over the phone (21%).
When asked about what matters most about accessing health and care services, 39% said that accessibility and availability of appointments was most important, followed by the speed and efficiency of service (29%) and the preference for face-to-face or human interaction (23%).
Recommendations
Based on these findings, we make the following recommendations to the NHS Chief Executives Group and NHS boards:
- Consider the results of this survey when delivering healthcare services to ensure a range of options are available for patients and public to book and attend appointments, as well as seeking advice about their healthcare.
- Ensure face-to-face contact is an option for all consultations, where feasible.
- Ensure people’s preferences are asked and prioritised. And keep in mind that this can change e.g. face-to-face first consultation and online follow-up meeting.
- Go forward with a more digital approach for booking appointments, though it is important to ensure other ways to book appointments, for example via telephone.
- Consider how to ensure high-quality, up to date information is available online but also communicated in different ways, for example through face to face interactions and via telephone, and accessible to all.
NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy
The second section of the survey began by asking respondents for their opinions on climate change.
Three quarters of Panel members were very or fairly concerned about climate change (75%), 18% were neither concerned nor unconcerned and 7% were very or fairly unconcerned.
Of most concern to Panel members in relation to damage to the environment were the loss of wildlife and biodiversity (63%), and this was followed by waste (56%) and air pollution (50%). Just 4% of respondents said they were not concerned about any damage to the environment as a result of climate change.
Following on from this, respondents were asked about the impact of climate change and damage to the environment on their own personal health, their family’s health and the health of Scotland’s citizens. This revealed that over half of respondents were of the opinion that climate change and damage to the environment poses a great deal or a fair amount of threat on the health of Scottish citizens (58%) and on the health of Panel members’ families (52%). However, just under half of respondents were of the opinion it has a great deal or fair amount of threat on them personally (48%).
Respondents were more likely to consider climate change to pose a great deal of threat in 40 years time (62%) than right now (12%).
Panel members were asked for their opinions concerning responsibilities and priorities in relation to climate change:
- 81% agreed that patients have a responsibility to help NHS Scotland to reduce its impact on climate change and the environment.
- 75% agreed NHS Scotland has a responsibility to reduce its impact on climate change and the environment.
- 55% agreed NHS Scotland should make reducing its impact on climate change and the environment one of its top priorities, although 20% disagreed.
In terms of actions relating to their medication that Panel members would be willing to take to help NHS Scotland reduce climate change:
- 94% would be in support of returning unused medicines or empty inhalers to the pharmacy for reuse or disposal.
- 86% would support the re-issue of medicines that have been returned by other patients because they were not used, as long as unopened and safety checked.
- 86% would support accepting the exact amount of medication that is prescribed to them without being given any extra.
- 76% would support choosing one medicine over another because it has less of an impact on the environment (with no negative effect on your treatment).
- 68% would support using more environmentally friendly medicine, even if less convenient than regular medicine. E.g. adjusting the dosage/frequency (with no negative effect on your treatment).
- 61% would support taking a more environmentally friendly medicine, even if the NHS has to pay more for the medicine (with no negative effect on your treatment).
With regard to actions that can be taken relating to the use of medical equipment and other aspects to help NHS Scotland reduce emissions and be more environmentally friendly:
- 97% would support returning medical equipment no longer needed, to be re-used, such as crutches, boots, slings.
- 88% would support reusable personal equipment in hospital, such as a gown, after it has been sterilised and checked for safety.
- 73% would support using public transport when travelling to health and care services, where available/appropriate.
- 70% would support considering the environmental impact of their treatment options as part of deciding their treatment with their health professional (with no negative effect on your treatment).
- 57% would support having a video or telephone GP consultation to reduce travel, even if they would prefer to see someone face to face, although 26% opposed this.
Respondents were asked a number of questions on adverse weather and the impact it can have on NHS Scotland services:
- More than 6 in 10 respondents (62%) had strong or some concerns that weather may prevent them, or someone they care for, from being able to access an NHS Scotland service in the future.
- Just over a quarter of respondents (28%) said that adverse weather had at some point, prevented them or someone they care for, from being able to access an NHS Scotland service, and where this was the case, the majority (73%) said this had been due to snow.
By 2040 NHS Scotland wants to have achieved ‘Net Zero’. The goal of achieving Net Zero emissions is a crucial part of global efforts to combat climate change and limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
- More respondents were unaware (47%) than aware (44%) that NHS Scotland aims to be Net Zero.
- The majority of respondents said that a TV campaign (59%) or social media campaign (52%) would be the best way to reach people to increase awareness of NHS Scotland trying to attempt to achieve Net Zero.
- Eight in ten respondents (80%) strongly supported NHS Scotland’s policy to become Net Zero, 16% neither supported nor opposed it and 4% were opposed or strongly opposed to it.
Recommendations
Based on these findings, we make the following recommendations to the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland:
- Consider the results of this survey and people’s support for NHS Scotland to reduce its environmental impact in medical equipment, travel and goods and services.
- Act on the findings that people are willing to take actions to reduce the environmental impact of NHS care such as medicines use.
- Increase awareness of NHS Scotland’s Net Zero objective through the likes of TV and social media campaigns.
- Enhance awareness of climate change's impacts on individuals (present and future generations), making it more personal, thereby boosting willingness to adopt adaptation and mitigation practices and enhancing the population's resilience.
- Conduct deliberative engagement to understand where the boundaries sit in people’s willingness to change e.g. what inconvenience is too much when having to use different medications and understand how people think they can help NHS Scotland become more sustainable.