People are more likely to provide feedback about commercial services and products than their experiences of health and social care, according to new research.

The research, carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and health and care champion Healthwatch England (HWE), found more than half of people surveyed (54%) said it is easier to provide feedback about their experiences of commercial products and services such as hotels or meals, than health and social care.

More than a quarter (26%) said they thought their feedback on care would not be listened to,  one in five (22%) said they worried it would have a negative impact on their care; and a further fifth (21%) said they didn’t want to cause a problem for the people caring for them.  

The research was carried out as part of the Share for Better Care campaign which aims to encourage everyone to give feedback on their experiences of care. The campaign, which focuses on people more likely to experience poorer care and inequalities and less likely to give feedback, has been launched by CQC and HWE in collaboration with the Race Equality Foundation, National Dignity Council, Royal Association for Deaf people, National Voices, Challenging Behaviour Foundation, the Patients Association, VoiceAbility and Disability Rights UK.

The research also found sharing feedback about commercial products and services was seen as less emotionally taxing (18%) and less personal (26%) than sharing on health and social care experiences. People said feeding back commercially was often quicker and there were more available options to do so.

Chris Dzikiti, CQC director of mental health, said: “People have the right to feedback about their experiences of the health and social care services and we want them to feel safe and secure to do so. The care system must get better at encouraging people to feedback and taking positive action as a result.”

Jabeer Butt, chief executive of The Race Equality Foundation said: “The research suggests that there are a number of reasons why people do not give feedback, but we would argue that at the core of all these reasons is trust.  If people trusted that they would be listened to then they would feedback, similarly if they trusted that they would not be disadvantaged, they would feedback.”

Share for Better Care will run until March 2025, focusing on different audiences to increase awareness of the importance of feeding back about care experiences. The campaign will reach out to people living in deprived neighbourhoods or lower income communities, people from ethnic minority groups, autistic people and people with a learning disability and disabled people with physical and/or sensory impairments.