SPECIALIST OUTPATIENT CLINICS (SOC) SHOWED BIGGEST IMPROVEMENTS AMONG HEALTHCARE INSTITUTIONS IN 2012 PATIENT SATISFACTION SURVEY

12 November 2012

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Public hospitals, polyclinics and national specialty centres continue to score a healthy rating from patients, with nearly eight in 10 giving the thumbs up to their services.

The majority of public hospitals and polyclinics registered improvements in patients’ overall level of satisfaction with their services in 2012.

2 Patients were particularly satisfied with the performance of hospitals’ Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOC), with the SOCs at six out of seven hospitals registering improvements in the level of service rendered. Polyclinics continued to improve on their previous scores with the overall satisfaction levels for the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP) and SingHealth polyclinics (SHP) edging up by two percentage points each to 82% and 77% respectively.

3 On average, more patients this year said that they would recommend the services of Specialty Centres to other patients (82%) compared to 2010 (80%).

4 Overall, the healthy ratings reflect the high level of public confidence in our HCIs, despite higher customer expectations. However, there are areas which need to be addressed to enhance service improvements to better meet patient expectations.

5 Waiting times at HCIs remain an area of dissatisfaction among patients surveyed. While HCIs continue to introduce innovative measures to improve the turnaround time for admissions and patient discharges, the Ministry of Health has also enhanced the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) in January 2012 allowing more patients to seek subsidised medical treatment at the GPs near their homes. Another area which patients said needed improvement was in the coordination of care and transfer of information among our HCIs. Our HCIs will continue to work to ensure that patients experience seamless transits from acute hospitals to community care settings. The National Electronic Health Records (NEHR) will also enhance the flow of patients’ medical records across both public and selected private sector entities.

6 The Patient Satisfaction Survey 2012 was commissioned by the Ministry of Health and carried out by an independent survey company. A total of 12,355 patients participated in the survey from June to September 2012. This is the 8^th MOH Patient Satisfaction Survey conducted to assess the level of patient satisfaction, service-quality attributes, including facilities, skills and care shown by the health-care professionals, and to gather suggestions for continual service improvement.

7 Patients were asked to rate their level of satisfaction with the institutions, and whether they would recommend the services to other patients. As in previous years, they were asked to assess their perceptions based on the following nine service quality attributes:

1. Knowledge and skills of doctor

2. Care and concern shown by doctors

3. Clear explanation by staff on the procedures and care

4. Knowledge and skills of nurses

5. Care and concern shown by nurses

6. Knowledge and skills of allied health professionals

7. Care and concern shown by allied health professionals

8. Care coordination

9. Facilities

SURVEY RESULTS

(A) OVERALL SATISFACTION LEVEL

8 In the 2012 survey, 77% of the patients rated their overall satisfaction levels as “excellent” and “good” compared to 76% in 2010.

Chart 1: Overall satisfaction in public healthcare instituitions

9 Patients were also asked if they would recommend the HCIs to others based on their experience. Slightly fewer patients (78%) said they would “strongly recommend” and “likely recommend” the services of the HCIs in 2012 than in 2010 (79%). However, more patients on average this year (82%) said they would recommend the services at specialist centres than in 2010 (80%).

willingness to recommend public healthcare instituitions

(B) COMPARISON AMONG PUBLIC HEALTHCARE INSTITUTIONS

i. Public Hospitals

10 Among the hospitals, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital achieved the best results at 83%, followed by Alexandra Hospital (79%) and Tan Tock Seng Hospital (77%). Singapore General Hospital made the largest improvement of seven percentage points to score 74%.

Table 1: overall satisfaction of public hospital in 2012 and 2010

11 Patients’ satisfaction with the service levels at the majority of hospital SOCs, wards and some emergency departments (A&E) also increased this year. Six out of seven hospital SOCs registered improvements in patient satisfaction levels, while patients were happier with the service levels at the wards in four of seven hospitals this year.

table 2: Overall satisfaction level at A&E, SOC and Wards in 2012 and 2010

12 Patients were most willing to recommend the services at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (83%), KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (83%), Alexandra Hospital (81%) and Singapore General Hospital (80%) to others in 2012.

Willingness to recommend public hospitals in 2012 and 2010

ii. National Specialty Centres

13 Among the National Specialty Centres, the Institute of Mental Health (90%), National Skin Centre (81%) and the National University Heart Centre (79%) led the way this year with their patients expressing the highest satisfaction.

Overall satisfaction among national specialty centres in 2012 and 2010

14 There were more patients on average who said they would “strongly recommend” and “likely recommend” specialty centres to other patients (82%) compared to 2010 (80%).

Willingness to recommend your National Specialty Centres in 2012 and 2010

iii. Polyclinics

15 Patients were more satisfied with the services at our polyclinic clusters in 2012 with the scores for National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP) and SingHealth polyclinics (SHP) edging up two percentage points each to 82% and 77% respectively.

16 Clementi Polyclinic (89%), Jurong Polyclinic (87%) and Hougang Polyclinic (86%) achieved the best results among the polyclinics this year.

Overall satisfaction in polyclinics cluster in 2012 and 2020

17 Patients said they would most likely recommend the services at Ang Mo Kio Polyclinic (87%), Clementi Polyclinic (87%) and Bukit Batok Polyclinic (86%).

Table 8: Willingness to recommend polyclinic in 2023 and 2010

CONCLUSION

18 Public HCIs have largely improved on their overall levels of services as more patients expressed satisfaction with the service levels at HCIs in 2012 than in 2010.

19 Also noteworthy in this year’s survey was the finding that patients were particularly impressed with the services rendered by our Allied Health Professionals (AHP) across the HCIs, with 85% saying that AHPs’ level of care and concern and service standards largely matched their expectations.

20 The annual Patient Satisfaction Survey serves to encourage hospitals, national specialty centres and polyclinics to constantly improve their services and address the key concerns of patients.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

11 DECEMBER 2012