The report criticizes the paternalistic attitude of UK health professionals as a major barrier preventing patients from taking an active role in managing their healthcare. What patients clearly want, says the Institute, is advice from professionals who are good communicators, who have sound, up-to-date knowledge and skills, who respect patients’ preferences and are able to offer support in helping them to help themselves.
What they are getting, the Institute claims, is a health service that lags way behind other countries in recognizing and supporting patients’ active role in protecting and promoting their own health. These results show that the National Health Service (NHS) is very far from being patient-led.
According to the report, British patients are the least likely to receive advice from doctors on disease prevention and lifestyle changes and patients undergoing surgery in British hospitals are less likely to have access to information about their surgeon.
Fewer British patients are involved in treatment decisions, and they are less likely to take part in a medication review or be given information about medicine side-effects than those in the other countries.
When asked about support for self-care and self-management, UK patients were also less likely to be given clear instructions on what to do about monitoring and managing their treatment than those in all the other countries, except the US.
Fewer than one in five British people with chronic conditions had been given a self management plan.
Based on these findings, Angela Coulter, chief executive of the Picker Institute and author of the report, has called for a major change in the way professionals work with patients in the UK.