Measuring what matters for people-centred health systems

The key objective of a health system is to improve the health of patients and populations. However, few health systems routinely ask patients about the outcomes and the experience of their care. This chapter presents patient-reported outcomes following hip and knee replacement, and breast cancer surgery, as well as patient-reported experiences of people with mental health problems, from a subset of OECD countries. Patients who underwent joint replacement surgery reported, on average, improved function and quality of life with hip replacements generating slightly higher gains. Women who underwent autologous breast reconstruction surgery reported, on average, better outcomes than women who underwent implant reconstruction. Meanwhile results of a 2016 Commonwealth Fund survey of 11 countries suggest that people with a mental health problem report a worse experience in some aspects of care. Such information is valuable for other health service users, for clinicians, providers, payers and policymakers.