Publication - Statistics
Health and Care Experience Survey 2023/24 Technical Report
This report contains information about the methodology and background of the 2023/24 Health and Care Experience Survey.
Annex A: Changes to 2023/24 survey questionnaire
We run the HACE survey every two years. The survey questionnaire is reviewed at each round of the survey to ensure that the questions asked are in line with policy requirements, with recent developments of health and care services and understood by the users. In order to do so, we engage with stakeholders and test the questionnaire with volunteers. To test the questionnaire, for this round we conducted 37 cognitive testing interviews and a focus group.
The tables below list the new questions added to the survey, the questions that have changed since the 2021/22 survey and the questions that have been removed since the 2021/22 survey.
In addition to the changes listed in the below table, a general change throughout the questionnaire is the use of the wording “General Practice” rather than “GP”. This is to reflect the greater use of multi-disciplinary teams within General Practice and to make it clearer that we’re collecting information about peoples’ experience of care with different healthcare professionals at their General Practice, and not only the GP.
New questions for the 2023/24 survey
| 2023/24 Question number | Topic | Question Text | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q5 | Your General Practice | What do you think about the opening hours of your General Practice? | Reinstated question. To better understand patient satisfaction with regards to access to General Practice services. |
| Q8 | Your General Practice | Were you satisfied with the appointment you were offered? | To better understand patient satisfaction with regards to access to General Practice services. |
| Q9 | Your General Practice | If you weren’t satisfied with the appointment you were offered, why was that? | To better understand patient satisfaction with regards to access to General Practice services. |
| Q16 | Treatment or Advice from your General Practice | My treatment and care were well co-ordinated | Reflects stakeholder interest in the impact that the co-ordination of care has on the patient experience. |
| Q16 | Treatment or Advice from your General Practice | The healthcare professional knew my medical history | Reflects stakeholder interest on the impact that continuity of care has on the patient experience. |
| Q16 | Treatment or Advice from your General Practice | I was treated with dignity and respect | To inform person-centred care. |
| Q24 | Out of Hours Healthcare | I was treated with dignity and respect | To inform person-centred care. |
| Q30 | Care, Support and Help with Everyday Living | I was treated with dignity and respect | To inform person-centred care. |
| Q32 | Care, Support and Help with Everyday Living | If you are not receiving all the help and care services for everyday living that you feel you need, which options describe your situation? | To better understand the reasons for unmet and under-met care needs. |
| Q35 | Caring Responsibilities | Have you received any support to help with your caring role in the last 12 months? | To better understand how the support available to carers affects their experience as a carer. |
| Q36 | Caring Responsibilities | Have you received an assessment of your needs as a carer, or a written plan about your caring role and support? | To better understand how a carers assessment affects their experience as a carer. |
| Q41 | About You | Do you suffer from chronic or persistent pain, that is pain that carries on for longer than 3 months despite medication or treatment? | To better understand the health and care experience of people with chronic pain. |
Questions that were changed in the 2023/24 survey
| 2023/24 Question number | 2021/22 Question Number | Topic | Question Text | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q6 | Q7 | Your General Practice | The last time you needed an appointment with your General Practice, what kind of appointment did you get? | Response options updated to reflect changes to the kinds of appointments that a patient may be offered. |
| Q12 | Q9 | Your General Practice | Overall, how would you rate each of the following? | ‘Not applicable' removed as a response option and instructions added to the question to instruct respondents to skip the question if it is not applicable. This is due to queries raised during questionnaire testing around whether the inclusion of a 'not applicable' option introduces a potential bias by shifting the mid-point of the scale. |
| Q14 | Q11 | Treatment or Advice from your General Practice | The last time you received treatment or advice at your General Practice in the last 12 months, what did you receive treatment or advice for? | Minor change to the question wording following feedback received during questionnaire testing. |
| Q15 | Q12 | Treatment or Advice from your General Practice | Thinking about the consultation above, who did you receive most of your treatment or advice from? | Minor change to the question wording following feedback received during questionnaire testing. |
| Q16 | Q13 | Treatment or Advice from your General Practice | Thinking about that healthcare professional, how much do you agree or disagree with the following statements? | Minor change to the question instructions following feedback received during questionnaire testing. |
| Q17 | Q14 | Treatment or Advice from your General Practice | How would you describe the effect of the treatment or advice from that appointment on the following? | Minor change to the question wording following feedback received during questionnaire testing. |
| Q19 | Q21 | Out of Hours Healthcare | In the past 12 months, have you contacted an NHS service when you wanted to see a healthcare professional, but your General Practice was closed? | Minor change to the question wording following feedback received during questionnaire testing and reflect wider the Multi-Disciplinary Team available at many General Practices. |
| Q20 | Q22 | Out of Hours Healthcare | For the rest of this section, think of the last time you tried to get treatment when your General Practice was closed in the last 12 months. What did you do? | Change to the question wording following feedback received during questionnaire testing and to reflect the complex routes that some patients may follow when receiving Out of Hours Care. Crucially, the question is now a 'tick all that apply' question. |
| Q21 | Q22 | Out of Hours Healthcare | Who did you receive most of your treatment or advice from? | Minor change to the question wording following feedback received during questionnaire testing. |
| Q22 | Q24 | Out of Hours Healthcare | How did you consult with the healthcare professional? | Minor change to the question response options to improve clarity. |
| Q23 | Q25 | Out of Hours Healthcare | What did you receive the main treatment, assessment or advice from this service for? | Minor change to the question wording to include assessment. |
| Q27 | Q29 | Care, Support and Help With Everyday Living | In the last 12 months, have you had any help or support with everyday living? | Response options updated to remove 'Yes, help to look after someone else' due to issues identified during questionnaire testing. New response option of 'Yes, emotional / community / peer support' added to reflect the importance patient representatives placed on this. |
| Q28 | Q30 | Care, Support and Help With Everyday Living | Who funds your help or support with everyday living? | Response options updated to improve clarity following feedback during questionnaire testing. |
| Q29 | Q31 | Care, Support and Help With Everyday Living | Which of the following applies to you and how your social care is arranged? | Response options updated following feedback from stakeholders. |
| Q33 | Q35 | Caring Responsibilities | Do you regularly help, support or look after someone because they are living with a disability or physical / mental health condition, or have problems related to old age? | Minor change to the question wording to improve clarity. |
| Q35 | Q37 | Caring Responsibilities | Have you received any support to help with your caring role in the last 12 months? | Minor change to the question wording to clarify the time period that the question relates to. |
| Q39 | Q40 | About You | Do you have any of the following, which have lasted, or are expected to last, at least 12 months? | Partially aligned to the equivalent Census 2022 question. |
| Q42 | Q44 | About You | Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation? | Improved alignment to the Scottish Government guidelines on equality questions |
| Q43 | Q43 | About You | What best describes your ethnic group? | Improved alignment to the Scottish Government guidelines on equality questions |
| Q44 | Q46 | About You | What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to? | Improved alignment to the Scottish Government guidelines on equality questions |
Questions that were removed from the 2023/24 survey
| 2021/22 Question Number | Topic | Question Text | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q13 | Treatment or Advice from your General Practice | I knew the healthcare professional well | Question was intended to inform continuity of care, however it tested poorly with patients and wasn't interpreted consistently. |
| Q16 | COVID-19 | Do you know or think that you have had COVID-19? | Other sources are now available for this information or there is no longer an urgent need for this information. |
| Q17 | COVID-19 | Have you fully recovered from COVID-19 and returned to your previous level of health? | Other sources are now available for this information or there is no longer an urgent need for this information. |
| Q18 | COVID-19 | How long have you experienced any COVID-19 symptoms that have not been explained by something else? | Other sources are now available for this information or there is no longer an urgent need for this information. |
| Q19 | COVID-19 | Have you received a COVID-19 vaccination? | Other sources are now available for this information or there is no longer an urgent need for this information. |
| Q20 | COVID-19 | What are your reasons for not being vaccinated? | Other sources are now available for this information or there is no longer an urgent need for this information. |
| Q32 | Care, Support and Help With Everyday Living | I was treated with compassion and understanding | Question removed due to space constraints and limited use of this data from previous surveys. |
| Q42 | About You | What best describes your gender? | Data on sex is available through data linkage and this question has been removed to reduce the respondent burden. |
| Q45 | About You | What best describes your work status? | Question removed due to space constraints and limited use of this data from previous surveys. |
Contact
Email: patientexperience@gov.scot
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