CLIENT SATISFACTION AND PERCEPTIONS ABOUT QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE AT A PRIMARY HEALTH CENTRE OF DELHI, INDIA

Abstract

Background: Quality of services shows a variation between the client and the provider. Therefore, it needs to be explored whether the quality of care or the lack of quality can explain the utilization of government health care. Objectives:This paper attempts to assess the utilization of health services and client satisfaction for services provided by a Primary Health Centre (PHC) at Delhi, India. Setting and design: The study was a facility based cross sectional study. Exit interviews were conducted among 400 patients seeking outdoor patient department (OPD) services of thePHC Palam, New Delhi from May 2010 to November 2010. Material and Methods: Exit interviews were conducted among the patients at each of the service delivery points in the PHC to assess the utilization of services and the satisfaction of clients with the available services. Results: Most respondents rated the services to be of good quality on various parameters of health delivery. The PHC was the preferred health facility (98%) for treatment seeking in comparison to other healthcare facilities in the area.The main factors affecting utilization of primary health care services provided by the government were easy accessibility, low cost, less waiting time, and presence of co-operative health personnel. Conclusion:Provision of quality primary healthcare services to clients can result in better utilization of services at the primary level, thereby reducing the unnecessary burden of secondary and tertiary level facilities in addition to improving the health status of the community.