Written question asked by Baroness Michie of Gallanach (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Warner (Labour) on Tuesday, 13 December 2005.

Health White Paper Consultation

Question: Why the online questionnaire used as part of the listening exercise in the consultation process on the White Paper Your Health, Your Care, Your Say focused on general practitioner and nursing services only, and used mostly closed questioning, with no space for open comments.

Answer: The online questionnaire was only one of several ways we sought the public’s views. We chose a questionnaire structure that could be used to quickly analyse large volumes of data rather that asking for ““free form”” text which would have been more difficult to systematically assess. The questionnaire was therefore focused on issues that we knew from previous experience were important to people, but we did allow for some commentary to be included and the public have used that opportunity to raise a wide range of issues. We have received about 36,000 completed questionnaires (both online and hard copy) and collected a great deal of data, including thousands of ““free text”” comments. The local, regional and national events provided people with opportunities to discuss other issues that were important to them.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 2826; 676 c150-1WA
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Primary care Public participation Department of Health Questionnaires
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk