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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) Board today (September 24) discussed and endorsed the Patient Experience and Satisfaction Survey Report on Specialist Outpatient Service. With the findings of the Survey, the HA can better understand the feelings, needs and expectations of patients for quality improvement.
The Survey was conducted by the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong from July to December 2014. Around 14,000 respondents who had consultations at 26 HA Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOPCs) were interviewed by phone. Survey topics covered the patients' journey from "before the appointment" to "leaving the clinic".
The Survey revealed an overall positive patient experience on specialist outpatient service. On a scale of 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest), the average score of the overall experience of the 26 SOPCs was 7.7, ranging from 7.2 to 8.3. The patient experience was found to be similar across the SOPCs.
Regarding the service areas studied, the majority of the respondents gave high ratings towards "trust and confidence in healthcare professionals", "level of coordination among healthcare professionals" and "respect and dignity to patients".
Areas with relatively lower scores included "information on logistic arrangement before or during the appointment", "involvement in decision making" and "information on self-care after leaving the clinic", according to the Survey.
The HA Director (Quality and Safety), Dr Derrick Au, expressed his gratitude to patients for appreciating the specialist outpatient service, which is always in high service demand. He stressed that the HA attaches great importance to patients' views, and the findings would enable the HA to identify areas for improvement from patients' perspectives.
"The HA has all along been proactive in improving specialist outpatient service. These included enhancing the booking arrangements and minimising the disparities in waiting time across clusters. From patients' perspectives, it is equally important that healthcare professionals can fully understand their worries, and provide detailed explanations and assistance so as to allay their fears and anxieties," Dr Au said.
In order to fully understand patients' needs, the first territory-wide patient satisfaction survey was conducted among 5,000 patients from 25 public hospitals in 2010. The HA will continue to carry out surveys on specific areas or themes to monitor service quality.
Members of the public are welcome to browse the full version of the Patient Experience and Satisfaction Survey on Specialist Outpatient Service which has been posted on the HA homepage (www.ha.org.hk) under the "Special Reports" section in Corporate News.
Ends/Thursday, September 24, 2015
Issued at HKT 19:58
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