Delivering Service Quality in Alcohol Treatment: A Qualitative Comparison of Public and Private Treatment Centres by Service Users and Service Providers

In the UK, quality of care has now been placed at the centre of the National Health Service (NHS) modernisation programme. To date, there has been little research on the service quality delivery of alcohol treatment services from the perspective of both the service user and service provider. Therefore, this qualitative study explored the perceptions of healthcare service delivery among problem drinkers and alcohol treatment service providers in both an NHS service and a private clinic (n = 70). The NHS sample comprised 17 patients and 13 members of the healthcare team. The private clinic sample comprised 25 patients and 15 members of staff. Thematic analysis revealed four key themes: (1) how service quality delivery is defined; (2) funding of services; (3) choice in alcohol treatment services; and (4) processes and measurements of service delivery. The main factors influencing the service expectations of problem drinkers were their personal need for treatment and past experience of services. An additional factor that emerged from the study was the range and level of services that problem drinker can access creating a ‘revolving door’ practice. Implications arising from this study are also discussed.