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Sex Transm Infect 2009;85:467-468 doi:10.1136/sti.2009.037663
  • Health services research

Commentary

  1. R S French1,
  2. C H Mercer2
  1. 1
    Department of Public Health & Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK
  2. 2
    Research Department of Infection & Population Health, The Mortimer Market Centre, UCL, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Rebecca S French, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK; rebecca.french{at}lshtm.ac.uk

    Positive patient experience has been identified as a key marker of health-service quality.1 With the drive towards more patient-focused care, there is increasing interest in seeking patient opinion on the service and care they receive across all areas of the NHS. The Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health (MedFASH) has recommended that users (and potential users) of sexual-health services be consulted about the design, planning, delivery and improvement of services to ensure that the care provided is user-focused and of high quality.2 As Weston et al3 note (see page 459), it is therefore of concern that the Health Care Commission report found that fewer than half of primary care trusts regularly consulted with their patients on the quality of sexual-health services.4 The particularly sensitive nature of sexual health services, patients’ desire for anonymity and some patients’ “get in, get seen, get out” attitude towards accessing these services may in part explain the limited user consultation. However, the response rates of the published studies included in the Weston …

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