Patient satisfaction with podiatry care offered in health centre in Malta.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to identify patient's views and opinions about the current podiatry service offered in the Maltese National health Service and to determine whether there is a difference in patients' views and opinion amongst the 8 different podiatry clinics across the Maltese Island.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD An exploratory quantitative study was conducted on 80 Maltese subjects who had been attending podiatry services offered by the Maltese Primary Health Care System for at least one year. 10 subjects were randomly selected from each of the eight Health Centres (HC) in Malta, which included Birkirkara HC, Cospiqua HC, Floriana HC, Gzira HC, Mosta HC, Paola HC, Qormi HC and Rabat HC from August 2008 to December 2008. Each of the participants was interviewed once during this study. The 'Bassetlaw (NHS) Primary Care Trust Patient Satisfaction Survey' was used to explore patient satisfaction.

RESULTS The study's findings have concluded that Maltese patients visiting the podiatry NHS clinics are overall satisfied with the current service rendered to them (P 0.000). However further statistical analysis has demonstrated a statistical difference between clinics in patient satisfaction with some aspects of podiatric care and management. Variation in patient satisfaction between clinics was shown for the ease of contacting the podiatry department by telephone (P 0.000), the quality of the phone service and telephone staff (P 0.000), the appointment booking system (P 0.000), quality of care given by the podiatrist (P 0.001), amount of time the podiatrist spends with patients (P 0.000), podiatrist's patience regarding patients' questions or worries (P 0.015), the podiatrist's explanation of patient treatment (P 0.008), and regarding advice given to patients about improving their foot health (P 0.000). CONCLUSIONS This study has indicated an overall satisfaction with current podiatry service in Malta. This study has also indicated that Maltese patients differ in opinion regarding different aspects and the level of service rendered to them in the 8 podiatry clinics around Malta. Results demonstrated that although the 8 clinics are under the same management, different quality levels of care were obtained from individual podiatry clinics. Further research in diverse settings such as in private clinics and private hospitals where populations may differ from the one stncliecl here may yield further information as to patient's perception with podiatric services in Malta.