SINGAPORE: Three in four patients or 74 per cent have rated the
services at public hospitals and polyclinics as "good" or "excellent".
This is according to the Patient Satisfaction Survey commissioned
by the Ministry of Health (MOH) that polled 9,327 patients in the last
three months of 2008.
Despite the good showing, the results were 2 percentage points lower compared to 2007.
MOH said this is probably a reflection of the public mood during the current economic recession.
MOH said the survey findings seem to correlate with a separate
study on the national Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore released
by the Singapore Management University in April, which noted a decline
in overall customer satisfaction scores in services sectors including
finance and healthcare.
For restructured hospitals, Alexandra Hospital topped the list with 83 per cent of its patients feeling satisfied.
KK Women's and Children's Hospital came in second, with 75 per cent.
Third-place Singapore General Hospital (SGH)saw the biggest fall of
patient satisfaction of 7 percentage points compared to 2007.
National University Hospital (NUH) was fourth, with a rating of 69 per cent.
Tan Tock Seng Hospital came in fifth, at 68 per cent.
In bottom place was Changi General Hospital, which registered a drop of 4 percentage points from 2007.
In response, SGH said the results were probably due to
inconveniences caused by upgrading projects carried out on hospital
grounds last year.
SGH said it will continue to work on improving its patient satisfaction ratings.
Mrs Tan-Huang Shuo Mei, SGH's director for communications &
service quality, said: "From the latest patient satisfaction survey
results it is quite evident that patients' expectations have risen,
hence many institutions saw a drop in ratings.
"Towards the second half of last year, we had caused inconveniences
to our patients, their relatives and visitors as we were managing the
shortage of car park lots which arose from the construction of the SGH
Pathology Building and we had closed the Kopitiam food court for a few
weeks to expand the capacity.
"This coincided with the survey period. At SGH, we are committed to
improving our patient satisfaction ratings as their experience at our
hospital is as important as clinical outcomes."
As for satisfaction in service levels among the hospitals, patients
gave NUH's Accident & Emergency department the lowest score of 50
per cent, while Alexandra Hospital topped the list with 81 per cent.
Patients gave Tan Tock Seng Hospital the lowest score of 64 per cent on
its wards. Alexandra Hospital came in first with 84 per cent.
- CNA/ir