Public opinion and purchasing.

Abstract

Objectives-To explore the use of a questionnaire to obtain representative public opinions on health services.

It takes a giraffe to see the big picture – Citizens' view on decision makers in health care rationing

“…As this is -to our knowledge -the first study of its type to focus exclusively on the programme level, its intended contribution is to expand and deepen knowledge regarding how citizens could reflect about appropriate decision makers on this level of rationing. Our main finding was that politicians were viewed as more legitimate decision makers, in contrast to the results from most other studies where physicians are usually favoured (Richardson et al 1992, Myllykangas et al 1996, Bowling 1996, Kneeshaw 1997, Busse 1999, Litva et al 2002, Wiseman et al 2003.…”

“…The dominant picture in previous research on this topic seems to be that citizens prefer physicians as decision makers for rationing in health care (Richardson et al 1992, Myllykangas et al 1996, Bowling 1996, Kneeshaw 1997, Busse 1999, Litva et al 2002, Wiseman et al 2003. Some studies indicate that citizens themselves believe they could have a role in rationing decisions (Bowling et al 1993, McIver 1998, while politicians are seldom mentioned as important actors (Bowling et al 1993, Wiseman et al 2003.…”

Asking the public: Citizens´ views on priority setting and resource allocation in democratically governed healthcare

“…Additionally, people place high belief in that physicians are their agents and will secure resources for their healthcare, rather than impose limits (Mechanic, 1998). Some studies indicate that citizens themselves believe they could have a role in priority setting and rationing decisions (Bowling et al, 1993;Bruni, Laupacis, Levinson & Martin, 2010;Litva et al, 2002;McIver, 1998;Richardson et al, 1992;Wiseman, 2005). However, there are conflicting findings indicating that citizens' involvement is not self-evident in the eyes of citizens themselves McKie et al, 2008).…”

“…Instead, several studies show that citizens prefer physicians to make such decisions (Bowling, 1996;Busse, 1999;Kneeshaw, 1997;Litva et al, 2002;Myllykangas et al, 1996;Richardson et al, 1992;Wiseman et al, 2003). This choice has partly been explained as a knowledge-based confidence, people do think that health professionals are highly skilled, also when it comes to prioritising (although it is uncertain whether this applies to meso level).…”

“…multi-professional) as consults, and politicians as final decision makers. In comparison with international studies (with reservations regarding how the questions were formulated in each of these studies), where physicians are considered to be self-evident in the eyes of the citizens, (Bowling, 1996;Busse, 1999;Kneeshaw, 1997;Myllykangas et al, 1996;Richardson et al, 1992;Wiseman et al, 2003) politicians were up-graded as decision makers in our study.…”