Abstract
BackgroundIn recent years out-of-hours primary care in the Netherlands has changed from practice-based to large-scale cooperatives. The purpose of this study is to determine patient satisfaction with current out-of-hours care organised in general practitioner (GP) cooperatives, and gain insight in factors associated with this satisfaction.MethodsFrom March to June 2003, 2805 questionnaires were sent to patients within three weeks after they had contacted the GP cooperative in their region. The study was conducted in the province of Limburg in the South of the Netherlands. One-third of these questionnaires was sent to patients who had only received telephone advice, one-third to patients who attended the GP cooperative for consultation, and one-third to patients who received a home visit. Four weeks after the first reminder, a non-respondents telephone interview was performed among a random sample of 100 patients. Analyses were performed with respect to the type of consultation.ResultsThe total response was 42.4% (1160/2733). Sixty-seven percent of patients who received telephone advice only reported to be satisfied with out-of-hours care. About 80% of patients who went to the GP cooperative for consultation or those receiving a home visit, reported to be satisfied. Factors that were strongly associated with overall satisfaction included, the doctor's assistant's attitude on the phone, opinion on GP's treatment, and waiting time.ConclusionPatients seem generally satisfied with out-of-hours primary care as organised in GP cooperatives. However, patients who received telephone advice only are less satisfied compared to those who attended the GP cooperative or those who received a home visit.
Highlights
In recent years out-of-hours primary care in the Netherlands has changed from practice-based to large-scale cooperatives
Telephone advice Forty percent (366/908) of the patients who had received telephone advice only, returned the questionnaire. 67% of these patients responded to be satisfied (44.3%) or very satisfied (22.3%) with their contact with the general practitioner (GP) cooperative, and 57% thought that the current out-ofhours care was an improvement compared to the former situation
The results of this study indicate that patients were generally satisfied about their contact with the GP cooperative
Summary
In recent years out-of-hours primary care in the Netherlands has changed from practice-based to large-scale cooperatives. The purpose of this study is to determine patient satisfaction with current out-of-hours care organised in general practitioner (GP) cooperatives, and gain insight in factors associated with this satisfaction. Out-of-hours primary care in the Netherlands has been substantially reorganised. The initiative of reorganising out-of-hours care has come mainly from the profession itself, motivated by increased dissatisfaction with the organisation of former out-ofhours primary care services. This dissatisfaction was mainly due to the high perceived workload (after out-ofhours service a regular day of work followed), and poor separation between work and private life. Studies have indicated that GPs appear to be generally satisfied with out-of-hours care organised in cooperatives[3]
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