Do Young and Older Adults Have Different Health Care Priorities? Evidence From a National Survey of English Inpatients

Abstract

This article compares the inpatient experience of young versus older adults, and assesses the relative importance of different aspects of health care in these two groups. The study comprised adult inpatients in 161 English hospitals. Standardized scores were calculated covering overall care and eight domains of patient experience (consistency, respect, involvement, nursing, doctors, cleanliness, pain control, and privacy). Values for young and older adults were compared. Additionally, Fisher r-to-z transformation was used to assess age differences in the strength of correlation between overall care and individual care domains. Young people reported a poorer experience across all aspects of inpatient care (p < .01). Compared with older adults, young men's overall care rating was more strongly correlated to pain control, and young women's to respect and doctors' characteristics (p < .05). These findings provide a quantitative national-level evidence base regarding young people's priorities in inpatient care.