Can clinicians benefit from patient satisfaction surveys?
Centre for Ageing Population Studies, Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London, Royal Free Campus Rowland Hill Street, London, UK. s.iliffe@pcps.ucl.ac.uk BACKGROUND: A transformation of healthcare is underway, from a sellers’ market to a consumers’ market, where the satisfaction of the patient’s needs is part of the definition of quality. Patient satisfaction surveys are widely used to judge service quality, but clinicians are sceptical about them because they are too often poorly designed measures that do not lead to improvements in the quality of care. AIM: To explore the use of patient satisfaction survey data in identifying problems with the provision of inpatient care for older people. METHODS: A case study using secondary analysis of postal survey data about older people’s experiences of health and social care services, obtained during the evaluation of the National Service Framework for Older People in 2005-2006. The survey asked about experie
