Patient satisfaction with NHS elective tonsillectomy outsourced to the private sector under the Patient Choice...

An interim goal of the NHS 'Extending choice for patients' initiative was that, by 2004, patients who had been on the NHS waiting list for elective surgery for 6 months were provided with a choice of staying on the waiting list or being treated faster by opting to have their operation with an alternative provider. The aim of this study was to examine patient satisfaction in a cohort of patients who travelled out-of-region to undergo routine tonsillectomy performed by an NHS consultant at a private hospital.

A questionnaire survey was conducted of adult patients undergoing elective tonsillectomy in 2002 and 2003 at The Hampshire Clinic, Basingstoke, UK.

Our results showed that 95% (n = 123) of patients were happy to travel considerable distances from their local hospital to have their operation. Overall 71% (n = 92) of patients rated the overall experience of having the operation performed at the private hospital as excellent and 25% (n = 32) rated it as satisfactory.

We conclude that tonsillectomy performed by a consultant in an out-of-region private hospital is associated with a high level of patient satisfaction and is an acceptable way to reduce waiting times for tonsillectomy provided clear guidelines and safeguards are in place.