Health and care experience survey 2017 to 2018: technical report

Information on the technical aspects of the survey, including development, implementation, analysis and reporting.

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7. Survey Response

Overview

The response rate for the survey is the number of forms returned as a percentage of the number of people in the sample. In total, 611,638 surveys were sent out and 132,972 were returned completed, giving an overall response rate of 22 per cent.

This section describes the differences in response rates by a range of variables. Many of these differences were also evident in previous surveys, and were taken into account when the sample sizes were calculated – see Section 4 on Sample Design for more information about this.

Response Rates for GP Practices

The response rate was relatively consistent across practices of all sizes (Table 6).

Table 6: Response rate by practice list size

GP Practice List Size Total number of forms sent out * Number of Responses Response rate (%)
< 2,500 86,000 20,152 23
2,500 to 4,999 174,867 36,057 21
5,000 to 7,499 160,503 34,636 22
7,500 to 9,999 112,015 24,603 22
10,000 + 78,251 17,524 22
Scotland 611,638 132,972 22

* Column does not sum to total, due to 2 people who declined to participate in the survey and requested that their information be deleted.

Response rates for Health and Social Care Partnerships

Response rates by Health and Social Care Partnership are shown in Table 7. The highest response rate was 31 per cent; achieved in Aberdeenshire, Dumfries & Galloway and Orkney. The lowest response rate was for Glasgow City (15 per cent).

Table 7: Response rate by Health and Social Care Partnership

Partnership Total number of forms sent out * Number of responses Response rate (%)
Aberdeen City 18,556 4,244 23
Aberdeenshire 16,677 5,121 31
Angus 8,641 2,488 29
Argyll and Bute 14,649 4,027 27
Clackmannanshire and Stirling 15,842 4,031 25
Dumfries and Galloway 16,071 4,986 31
Dundee City 17,412 3,539 20
East Ayrshire 11,067 2,374 21
East Dunbartonshire 10,318 2,520 24
East Lothian 8,817 2,522 29
East Renfrewshire 9,407 2,019 21
Edinburgh 47,949 10,327 22
Falkirk 16,592 3,815 23
Fife 34,197 7,781 23
Glasgow City 123,429 18,019 15
Highland 30,808 8,815 29
Inverclyde 10,446 1,965 19
Midlothian 7,698 1,977 26
Moray 6,955 2,029 29
North Ayrshire 13,825 2,966 21
North Lanarkshire 43,902 7,837 18
Orkney Islands 2,802 872 31
Perth and Kinross 12,023 3,404 28
Renfrewshire 20,694 4,074 20
Scottish Borders 10,933 3,072 28
Shetland Islands 4,896 1,415 29
South Ayrshire 10,661 2,745 26
South Lanarkshire 34,534 7,107 21
West Dunbartonshire 11,684 2,307 20
West Lothian 15,457 3,230 21
Western Isles 4,694 1,344 29
Scotland 611,638 132,972 22

* Column does not sum to total, due to 2 people who declined to participate in the survey and requested that their information be deleted.

Response Rate by Deprivation

Respondents were assigned to a deprivation quintile based on their postcode using the 2016 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)[4]. As seen in previous surveys, the response rate was lower for people living in deprived areas. The response rate ranged from 14 per cent for people living in the most deprived areas to 28 per cent for people living in the least deprived areas (Table 8).

Table 8: Response rate by deprivation quintile

SIMD Quintile Total number of forms sent out * Number of Responses Response rate (%)
1 (Most deprived) 153,298 21,943 14
2 125,581 24,850 20
3 128,896 31,621 25
4 110,840 28,902 26
5 (Least deprived) 93,021 25,656 28
Scotland 611,638 132,972 22

* Column does not sum to total, due to 2 people who declined to participate in the survey and requested that their information be deleted.

Response Rate by Urban / Rural Location

Respondents were assigned to an Urban / Rural category based on their postcode using the Scottish Government’s 2013/14 six-fold Urban / Rural classification[5]. The response rate ranged from 18 per cent of people living in large urban areas to 31 per cent of people living in remote rural areas (Table 9).

Table 9: Response rate by urban / rural location

Urban / Rural Category Total number of forms sent out * Number of Responses Response rate (%)
Large urban areas 247,368 44,136 18
Other urban areas 178,876 37,432 21
Accessible small towns 45,828 10,844 24
Remote small towns 16,614 4,317 26
Accessible rural 66,760 18,798 28
Remote rural 56,190 17,445 31
Scotland 611,638 132,972 22

* Column does not sum to total, due to 2 people who declined to participate in the survey and requested that their information be deleted.

Response Rate by Age Group[6]

The response rate increased with age and was highest in the 65+ age group (43 per cent). This compared to a response rate of just six per cent for those aged 17-34 (Table 10).

Table 10: Response rate by age group

Age Group Total number of forms sent out * Number of Responses Response rate (%)
17 to 24 67,531 4,339 6
25 to 34 105,709 8,185 8
35 to 44 97,453 11,948 12
45 to 54 110,330 20,960 19
55 to 64 98,102 30,704 31
65 + 132,511 56,836 43
Scotland 611,638 132,972 22

* Column does not sum to total, due to 2 people who declined to participate in the survey and requested that their information be deleted.

Response Rate by Gender[6]

The response rate was higher for females (24 per cent) than it was for males (19 per cent) (Table 11).

Table 11: Response rate by gender

Gender Total number of forms sent out * Number of Responses Response rate (%)
Male 303,660 57,747 19
Female 307,976 75,225 24
Scotland 611,638 132,972 22

* Column does not sum to total, due to 2 people who declined to participate in the survey and requested that their information be deleted.

Method of Response

Of the 132,972 respondents, 60 per cent sent their surveys back by post with almost all of the rest completing the survey online. One hundred and forty people completed their survey via the telephone (Table 12).

This is a different pattern of response methods than was seen in previous surveys, when around 90 per cent of responses were by post. The reason for this is the introduction of an initial letter this year, which included only a link to the online survey and telephone helpline. This resulted in an increase in the proportion of responses via these methods.

Table 12: Response by method

Method Number of questionnaires completed Questionnaires completed (%)
Online * 53,269 40
Post 79,563 60
Telephone helpline 133 0
Language line 7 0
Scotland 132,972 100

* Includes 2,873 completions via the telephone helpline

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