Patient satisfaction with general practice in Ireland

Patient satisfaction in healthcare is gaining widespread recognition as a measure of ascertaining how well health services are being delivered. An analysis of the non-clinical elements of general practice in Ireland using a patient satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ) presents data collected from 2,167 patients to examine patient satisfaction. The level of satisfaction reported in the PSQ was 74.5% (n=1614) with dissatisfaction at 14.5% (n=314). The areas of general practice with the highest level of reported satisfaction are communication 83.7% (n=1814), general satisfaction 81.2% (n=1760), access 74.4% (n=1612) and premises 75% (n=1625), whereas, appointments and availability shows a considerably lower level of satisfaction at 58.6% (n=1270). Further analysis was undertaken to examine how patients' characteristics influenced their responses. The age, educational level, gender and public/private status of the patient all influenced satisfaction levels. It was concluded that if PSQ's are to contribute to developing service delivery and good practice they must take into account the differing characteristics of patients.