Around one in five doctors are aware of patient feedback about themselves on review and ratings websites, according to a new survey of health professionals.
Their answers also reveal that GPs felt strongly that online feedback is negative, particularly on social media.
The new study led by the University of Warwick, published on 3 June in the Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, demonstrates that health service staff are cautious about using online feedback due to assumptions that it will be overwhelmingly negative, potentially missing opportunities to improve care.
Healthcare services use a number of methods to collect information on patient experiences, including surveys and Patient Participation Groups, and policymakers have pushed for greater use of online feedback in addition to traditional sources.
The research is based on a survey of 1001 registered doctors in primary and secondary care and 749 nurses and midwives in the UK. It examined their experience and attitude towards online sources of patient feedback, on sites such as I Want Great Care, NHS Choices (now the NHS website) and Care Opinion.
It found that just 27.7 per cent of doctors and 21 per cent of nurses were aware of feedback online about an episode of care that they had been involved in, while only 20.5 per cent of doctors and 11.1 per cent of nurses were aware of feedback about them as an individual specifically.
Dr Helen Atherton, from Warwick Medical School, said: “We saw a lack of awareness from healthcar