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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) will launch a patient survey next week at 26 Specialist Out-patient Clinics (SOPCs) to better understand the needs of patients, as well as their experiences, feelings, views and satisfaction levels in regard to receiving SOPC services for the purpose of continuous service improvement.
The HA spokesman today (July 11) said the survey, commencing next Monday in the form of telephone interviews, will be conducted by the School of Public Health and Primary Care of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It will take six months to complete. The survey will cover five dimensions: accessibility and convenience; physical environment; mechanism for handling dissatisfaction; interpersonal relationship; and treatment co-ordination.
"Random sampling will be adopted to recruit patients to the survey, and consent would be sought before commencement of the telephone interview. Their personal data will be handled in strict confidence. Patients are free to withdraw anytime from the survey in case they change their mind."
The spokesman stressed that the HA has all along been attaching importance to patients' views on the services of SOPCs. To continuously improve the services, health-care staff also have to grasp the patients' needs so that appropriate treatment and care plans can be formulated to achieve optimal outcomes.
The spokesman appealed to patients to actively participate in the survey which will enable the HA to better understand patients' experiences in public hospitals, their needs and their expectations. The views expressed by patients will help the HA shape service directions and plan improvement measures to continuously enhance health-care quality in public hospitals.
The HA launched its first Benchmark Patient Satisfaction Survey (PSS) of 5 000 discharged inpatients of 25 public hospitals in 2010. To facilitate ongoing monitoring of patient service standards, the HA will conduct corporate-wide Benchmark Surveys at regular intervals, and in between the hospital-based PSS and the specialty-based PSS will be used to address specific areas or issues.
Ends/Friday, July 11, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:30
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