Most Irish patients were satisfied with their health care treatment last year but believe the HSE should provide acute hospital services and A&E services in every county, a new survey has found.
Insight 07- an independent survey conducted by the UCD School of Public Health and Population Science and research group Lansdowne Market Research - surveyed over 3,500 patients on their satisfaction levels after attending GP, hospital inpatient, outpatient and community care services in the past 12 months.
96% of survey respondents said there should be an emergency department in every county, Image: Irish Times.
The survey found that 96 per cent of respondents said there should be an emergency department in every county, while 84 per cent of patients believe the HSE should provide an acute hospital in all counties.
An average 85 to 97 per cent of those treated last year rated their experience as good to excellent across GP, hospital and community care services.
A further 90 per cent of GP patients, 83 per cent of hospital inpatients and 73 per cent of outpatients said they would recommend the HSE service to someone else. There was also a high level of confidence and trust found in the health professionals providing treatment.
Speaking at the publication of the survey today, the Minister for Health Mary Harney said it didn't surprise her that people would want these services in their home county, but that the choice was now between having a local health care service or getting the right treatment.
"We have to organise around centres of excellence" to deliver the best standard of patient care, she said. The Minister also highlighted the positive patient response of those surveyed and said it was important for HSE staff morale.
Minister for Health Mary Harney
However, the survey also showed that just 23 per cent of hospital outpatients were seen at their appointed time and that there were issues around turnaround times of diagnosis and treatment, and in relation to cleanliness of toilets and wards.
The survey also found nearly 60 per cent of HSE patients were in favour of a complete ban on smoking at health care facilities, to include outdoor smoking, and that there was no divide in quality of service provided to medical and non-medical card holders.