Service satisfaction in healthcare sector improves

SINGAPORE — Patients here are feeling more “satisfied” with service in the healthcare sector, with the sector recording the largest improvement in the latest Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) by the Institute of Service Excellence (ISES), which was released yesterday.

The sector saw a significant 4.8-point increase from 2011 to achieve 71.3 points last year, above the overall national score of 69.9 points. It now ranks second among the nine sectors included in the index, behind finance and insurance, a turnaround from 2011 when it had ranked eighth.

Commenting on the healthcare sector’s performance, Assistant Professor Marcus Lee, Academic Director at the ISES, said: “Highly satisfied respondents (gave) a variety of reasons for their good ratings, such as doctor empathy, effective management of chronic conditions, short waiting time and even convenient parking.”

The ISES, an institute at the Singapore Management University, conducted the survey for the healthcare and finance and insurance sectors from October to December. It received 10,294 responses from households and tourists, and 33 companies were awarded scores.

Specialised healthcare — which refers to specialist clinics such as dental and traditional Chinese medicine clinics — and polyclinics, which are run by SingHealth and National Healthcare Group, were the two most improved healthcare sub-sectors.

The ISES also noted that satisfaction with doctors, nurses and administration staff helped boost scores.

Ms Isabel Yong, SingHealth’s Director of Group Service Quality, said the results affirmed SingHealth’s efforts, which include training staff to be more sensitive to elderly patients, in light of Singapore’s ageing population.

Alexandra Hospital was the only restructured hospital that saw a double-digit increase in scores, and emerged tops for the restructured hospitals sub-sector.

“We have regular events such as a bi-monthly patient feedback lunch, which is a useful forum (for us) to hear our patients’ voices,” said Mr Foo Hee Jug, Chief Executive Officer of JurongHealth, the new public healthcare cluster managing Alexandra Hospital.

Meanwhile, the finance and insurance sector scored 71.7 points last year, up 3.19 points from 2011.

Foreign banks outperformed all three local banks, which led the pack in 2011. According to the ISES, loyalty improved “significantly” among customers of foreign banks.

Overall, while the national satisfaction index saw a 0.88-point increase last year, five out of nine sectors saw scores fall due to factors ranging from higher COE prices to increase in tourists’ expectations.

Nevertheless, ISES Director Caroline Lim said the overall improvement is “very encouraging”.

“Going forward, we recognise that Singapore is facing a more challenging economic and operating environment. We are hopeful though, that businesses will accept the new norm of escalating costs and manpower constraints, reinvent and implement innovative models unique to our environment,” she said.