SINGAPORE — While overall patient satisfaction with public hospitals continues to improve, patients remain less impressed by waiting times to see a doctor or get medication, according to the results of an annual survey by the Ministry of Health (MOH) released on Monday (June 13).

The survey found relatively large gaps between the importance placed on waiting times by patients and their satisfaction levels.

In the Patient Satisfaction Survey for 2015, all public healthcare institutions were assessed on waiting times during four processes — to see the doctor, to get medication, to get an appointment, and to get a bed at the accident and emergency (A&E) department.

The largest gap was for waiting times to get a bed at the A&E department.

Among those surveyed, 96.2 per cent thought it was important, but only 57.5 per cent were satisfied with it.

Overall, 85.9 per cent of respondents rated their satisfaction levels with the public healthcare institutions as “excellent” or “good”, compared with 79.1 per cent in 2014.

And 83.8 per cent of respondents rated the institutions as having met or exceeded expectations, compared with 80.6 per cent in 2014.

“The feedback indicated that respondents were generally satisfied with the medical staff and facilities. However, they also cited waiting time, procedures and facilities as areas that needed improvement,” MOH said in a press release.

As for the affordability of the services provided, 72 per cent of respondents rated them as “excellent” or “good” as compared with 68.7 per cent in 2014.

When broken down, 42.5 per cent rated the affordability as “good”, down from 48.4 per cent in 2014, while 29.5 per cent rated it as “excellent”, up from 2014’s 20.3 per cent.

Besides waiting times, the institutions were also assessed on six other areas: The skills, care and experience of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, care coordination, facilities, and billing issues.

Of the seven public hospitals assessed in the survey, patients were happiest with Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, with 90.8 per cent saying they were satisfied with it.

Singapore General Hospital impressed the least, with 80.8 per cent of respondents satisfied with it.

The other hospitals are Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, National University Hospital, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Changi General Hospital. All enjoyed an improvement in service satisfaction levels.

Of the national speciality centres, the Institute of Mental Health got the highest satisfaction from patients

(94.1 per cent), with the Singapore National Eye Centre drawing the lowest satisfaction level (81.3 per cent).

Of the 17 polyclinics assessed, 13 improved on their satisfaction scores compared to 2014.

National Healthcare Group Polyclinics leaped to 92.2 per cent in overall satisfaction from 80.9 per cent in 2014, overtaking SingHealth Polyclinics which got 84.8 per cent in 2015, marginally higher than 84.3 per cent in 2014.

The survey was conducted from November 2015 to February 2016, and drew 12,469 responses. Open-ended feedback was sought from patients.