In an interesting article in today’s Daily Telegraph, Graham Archer makes a good job of articulating the essentially simple truth at the heart of the NHS debate - that the budget will never be able to keep up with demand - and that this is a truth that is recognised more readily by voters than it is by politicians.
I’ve not the space, nor the expertise, nor the desire to wade into the complex political arguments here, but having spent a lot of time talking to both NHS and private patients, it did get me thinking about how these arguments play out in the psyche of the patient at the point of need, and how this differs to the headlines about our health service.
Certainly there are those who have what might be termed a ‘private healthcare mindset’: those for whom the private option is less an option and more an automatic choice.
And at the other end of the spectrum, whether because of circumstance or ideology, we have a cohort for whom private healthcare will never realistically be a consideration.
But between these two, there are a rapidly growing number of people who may choose private. And here, as healthcare marketers, we have to understand the drivers and influencers behind this process, just as we do for any other product or service.
Here’s where it gets interesting, because of course, these drivers differ massively depending on service and circumstance: someone in acute pain from a herniated disc may be more motivated to pay for the speed of a private operation but be equally content to have their baby on the NHS.
Ultimately of course, it comes down to choice: people are essentially pragmatic creatures and the moral and ethical arguments about the existence of the NHS that so occupy the politicians are largely irrelevant when an individual is deciding on the best course of action for them.
What we do know from the various research and customer insight projects we’ve undertaken recently is that the strain on NHS resources is certainly a key factor in driving the consideration of private healthcare services. But it is by no means the whole story. In fact, what we might call the ‘brand values’ of individual service providers play a more significant role than you may have thought.
Why? Well, because in the move to private from NHS you become a consumer and your expectations shift accordingly.
And as healthcare marketers we need to go beyond the pragmatic advantages of speed of service and choice of consultant, and dig deep into the experiences and expectations of our specific target audiences to get the insights that determine those brand values. Just like we do in any other sector in fact
