Information for public choice.

The kind of information the public will need in order to take part in the rationing debate is examined. The public are interested in the debate both as taxpayers and as patients and they can have an input in a number of different ways. Their involvement at the level of general discussions about values and service priorities is problematic, because some of the methods used do not allow participants to ask questions or work through the implications of the information they have access to. The mechanisms for ensuring their involvement in planning service strategies are better known and the information requirements are clear. When patients are given more say in decisions about their treatment and care, they may choose different options to those favoured by health professionals, but more work still needs to be done on developing and presenting complex medical information and helping patients to make decisions.