An evaluation of the physiotherapy services in primary care.

Abstract

Introduction: During the mid 80's Primary Care received its first physiotherapists. The clinics were rather small and primitive and the equipment, basic. Still the physiotherapists made their mark and started delivering a service that fulfilled the needs of the community. Nowadays the service has new clinics, more staff and better equipment. The workload has quadrupled and the service needed to be updated. Objective: To investigate the level of patient satisfaction with the Physiotherapy service at Primary care. Methodology: A questionnaire was devised in order to collect the patients' view regarding five main areas of quality management. In the questionnaire itself a section was left for negative and positive comments regarding the service. Results: These were collected and analysed using the SPSS package and the analysed for accuracy and validity. Through the result table obtained and using the Literature review, all the questions were discussed in relation to the study itself. The main findings pointed out to a rather high level of patient satisfaction. Few were the negative comments put down on paper and even these were relatively easily explained. The only delicate matter was the patient's contact with the medical staff who refer the clients to the Physiotherapy service.

Recommendations: The following recommendations were done The use of the questionnaire to survey the quality of the physiotherapy service. The adoption of the patient charter. The institution of a regional quality controller. Continuous education to physiotherapist and others involved in the reception of the patient. In-service training to staff More research to be done in this field. Benchmarking with other foreign institutions such as the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Conclusion: the tool used, proved to be efficient and flexible enough to be used over a longer period of time. Modifications should be done along the way. The level of patient satisfaction could be graded as Good and this could be due to a number of factors. The main factor seems to be the professional attitude of the physiotherapists involved in such a delicate service. It is important to stress this fact and take it as a starting point for future improvement.