Client Satisfaction Survey
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Consultations with community members, staff, Winnunga clients and other stakeholders were done through a number of methods including:
- Individual interviews
- Group discussions/ focus groups
- Workshops
- Organisational interviews
- Client survey.
We also distributed a flyer through Winnunga inviting people to contact us with their comments and views.
We have reported in earlier sections the main findings of the consultations generally. Here we present the findings of the Winnunga Client Survey that mainly collected data on people's degree of satisfaction with the service. The form used is in Appendix 7. This was filled in by the participants themselves. The only assistance provided by staff involved the interpretation of questions in the survey.
It is worth noting that both staff and clients enjoyed this exercise and were happy to extend the period of the survey. Thus we had a total of 141 responses. This represented a total of 174 clients when accompanied children were included.
Not all questions were answered, and we have calculated the results for each question according to the number of respondents that answered that question. This is referred to as ‘n' under each graph.
The first section of the questionnaire sought the age, sex, usual residence of the respondent and how often they used Winnunga's service.
Figure 20 Survey Respondents by Age Group (%)
n=174
The age distribution is not surprising given the age distribution of the Aboriginal population and the tendency for children, young women and older people to be the main groups accessing health services.
Figure 21 Sex Distribution of Adult Respondents (%)
n=141
Again this distribution reflects the usual pattern of access to primary health care services with women accounting for most episodes of care. This is due to young women accessing health care services for issues relating to reproduction, and their tendency to be the main carers of children. On the other hand young men tend to be low users of health services.
Figure 22 Usual Residence of Respondents (%)
n=141
Figure 22 shows the usual residents of respondents with around 80% from Canberra, 10% each from Queanbeyan and Other NSW and 2% Yass. The total for NSW is around 21%.
Figure 23 Respondents Frequency of Use of Winnunga (%)
n=138
Figure 23 shows that the vast majority (over 80%) of respondents used Winnunga more than 4 times a year.
A series of questions were designed to gauge the degree of satisfaction clients had with the Winnunga service. Not all questions were relevant to all respondents. They were asked to assess their satisfaction from 1 to 5, with one being poor and 5 being excellent.
Figure 24 Respondents Satisfaction Rating for Winnunga's No Appointment System
n=127
Figure 24 shows that over two thirds of respondents found the walk-in, no appointment system as excellent and only around 2% found it poor or only fair.This issue is a difficult one for Aboriginal health services, as some people in employment, albeit a minority, find it difficult to wait sometimes 2-3 hours. It may be worthwhile Winnunga considering an appointment system for such people first thing in the morning, after lunch or conducting a clinics at, say 5.30 pm to accommodate people who are under pressure from their jobs.
Figure 25 Respondent's Satisfaction for Waiting Times
Clearly Winnunga has some long waiting times reflected by the fact that only about 1/3rd were completely satisfied. However, over 80% rated waiting times as good or better. Again, this is a difficult problem for health services and is difficult to resolve unless greater efficiencies can be implemented and/or more clinical staff employed. Neither of these are possible in the current overcrowded conditions. The Ferret system has helped keep clinicians informed of people waiting which has helped a bit.
Figure 26 Respondent's Satisfaction Rating for Winnunga's Transport Service
n=119
Over 50% rated the transport service as excellent. Clearly this is a much-appreciated service and an important aspect of Aboriginal people's access to services. This is especially the case given many peoples lack of access to private transport and Ainslie not being near a bus terminal/ junction.
Figure 27 Respondent's Satisfaction Rating for Access to Clinical Staff
This question related to client satisfaction with being able to access clinical staff by phone regarding results of tests, or other follow-up issues. Over 50% rated this as excellent with another 43% rating it as good or very good.
Figure 28 Respondent's Satisfaction Rating for the Time Staff Spent With Them
n=132
Again more than 50% rated the time staff spent with them as excellent, with around 95% rating it good or better.
Figure 29 Respondent's Satisfaction Rating for the Information Given to Them About Their Health/Illness
n=128
95% of respondents rated their satisfaction with the information they had been given by staff as good or better.
Figure 30 Respondent's Satisfaction Rating for Staff Listening to Clients Concerns
n=129
Again respondents rated the listening skills of staff as high, with only 4% rating them as fair or poor.
Figure 31 Respondent's Satisfaction Rating for Clear Follow-up Provided
n=123
The clarity of follow-up arrangements was also rated highly.
Figure 32 Respondent's Satisfaction Rating for Friendliness of Staff
n=132
The friendliness of staff was given the highest rating with 72% rating it as excellent, and another 28% rating it as very good or good. The quality of the staff is a very strong feature of Winnunga's services, and is clearly Winnunga's greatest asset.
Figure 33 Respondent's Overall Satisfaction Rating of the Service
n=129
The overall satisfaction with the service was high with 54% rating it as excellent, 28% as very good and 13% as good. Only 3% rated it as fair, and 1% as poor.
Discussion
These sorts of surveys are qualitative in nature. There are methodological difficulties that make drawing definitive conclusions impossible. However, the questionnaires were completed by clients themselves, and whilst it was intended that staff would assist clients when necessary, the only assistance required related to explanation, not completing the survey form. All clients who participated were visiting the service because of illness or other crisis. Thus they were unlikely to be relaxed and reflective. Despite a small pilot, there were inconsistencies in the way some of the questions were interpreted, and we discarded those in our analysis.
Despite inherent methodological difficulties, the results are difficult to disregard. There is a high level of consistency that suggests that the Winnunga services are highly popular with those using them and the quality of the staff particularly is appreciated and respected. Most surveys of this type receive the majority of responses in the good or very good range. This survey did not follow that pattern with the rating of excellent being prominent in all questions.
The secondary referral line for the program has an average of 0.75% indigenous clients contacting.