by Dr Rajendran Magesh
This audit covered County Durham which has 4 clinics (2 consultants/1 nurse specialist). The purpose was to evaluate user satisfaction of the service; 43 completed questionnaires were received.
The questionnaire covered three key areas: telephone service, verbal information, and amount of time spent.
We found that 65% had made phone contact with nurse, two thirds spoke with the nurse straight away and a third had a reply within 3 days (70% received a reply within 1 day, 20% 1–2 days, 10% 2–3 days). All were very satisfied/satisfied.
Verbal information was rated very good by 80% of patients in relation to the nurse specialist, 76% for the consultant, and 58% for the hospital doctor. None rated verbal information ‘poor’ for any staff. All 43 patients were satisfied with the amount of time at consultation.