Abstract:
Objective: To compare patients' satisfaction with four types of out-of hours
emergency dental service, including both 'walk-in' and telephone access
services.
Basic design: Postal questionnaire survey of patients who had attended
weekend emergency dental services. Patient satisfaction measured using
an adapted version of a questionnaire developed for assessing out-of hours
medical services.
Setting: Two health authorities in South Wales, UK.
Subjects: The 411 patients who saw a dentist and completed the patient
satisfaction questionnaire.
Results: The quality of the dentist-patient encounter was similar across
services, with most patients being satisfied with the dentist's attitude and
manner, the explanations and advice given, and having to see an
unfamiliar dentist. Satisfaction was lower,and differed more across
rvices in relation to service accessibility and delays in getting to see a
centist out-of-hours. The walk-in services were perceived as the least
accessible: around 40% said they had problems contacting a dentist when
the surgery was closed (compared with 16% and 29% in the other two,
telephone-access services). Only 12-14% of telephone-access patients said
they would be 'happy with advice plus a reliable appointment when
surgeries re-opened', whereas almost half of walk-in patients thought this.
Conclusions: Despite overall satisfaction with the dentist-patient
encounter, there was relative dissatisfaction with the accessibility of all
services, especially the walk-in services. Out-of-hours dental services
should be better designed to reflect patients' needs: the need for telephone
advice as well as face-to-face consultations, and greater awareness that
theoretically available services may be difficult to access unless public
expectations and awareness are raised.
