Consumer Satisfaction in Social Security Hospital: A Case Study of Punjab Employees Social Security Institution Hospital, Rawalpindi

In health care, consumer satisfaction is an important evaluation instrument to determine the quality of services. In recent years, the concept has assumed much greater significance particularly in market based health systems. Also, in World Health Organisation’s framework for health care assessment, the customer satisfaction is given due consideration. On the contrary, in developing countries particularly, the concept is one of the most ignored elements in evaluation of health care systems. Pakistan is also a case in point. Review of literature and general health management systems in the country suggests scarcity of information on consumer satisfaction as well as its neglect as a crucial element in health systems. This present study—which is cross-sectional—is designed on the ground that there is a need to incorporate consumer satisfaction in health care evaluation. This study, presents a scientific analysis of Punjab Employees Social Security Institution Hospital, Rawalpindi (PESSI) using the Patient Survey Questionnaire technique, the most universal approach used by international studies to evaluate consumer satisfaction with health services. Based on study results, generally, we conclude that consumers have expressed high level of satisfaction for various quality assessment scales. Despite these findings, it has also been noted that significant proportion of patients have also expressed medium as well as low satisfaction for certain scales. It tends to suggest that quality of services needs to be improved for specific items as well as certain scales including communication, general satisfaction, and interpersonal aspects for improvements in provision of certain services at the hospital.