Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service III (Projects aiming at quality service to patients and their carers)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Li WM, Leung SH, Ko SH, Li YC
Affiliation :
Family Medicine and General Out-Patient Clinic, Kowloon Central Cluster
Introduction :
In response to the increasing expectations of patients, complaints and feedback have emerged as pivotal indicators of patient satisfaction. The Patient Support Officer (PSO) role, initiated in 2020, involves assigning a nurse familiar with primary health operations to handle complaints and feedback within 10 community-based General Out-Patient Clinics (GOPCs) in Kowloon Central Cluster (KCC). Given the satellite nature of GOPCs, the PSO efficiently and effectively supports both local clinics and the hospital-based Patient Relations Officer (PRO).
Objectives :
Addresses patient's concerns and health needs effectively.
Methodology :
The PSO focuses on various dimensions with specific objectives:
Immediate Action: ensuring a timely response with the designated PSO mobile to any complainants and enquirers to minimize dissatisfaction escalation.
Multidirectional Liaison: disentangling conflicts relayed from local clinics and supporting cases referred from PRO and HAHO.
Optimizing the best for all: closing service gaps, if any, through root cause analysis, formulating improvement measures, and disseminating learning points through various platforms.
Result & Outcome :
Service alignments in year 2023 includes standard scripts for frontline staff on handling inquiries about adverse weather conditions, creating a designated location for printing patients' medical records, and optimizing the patient journey for attending Optometrists via CQMS.
A telephone questionnaire was conducted to gauge patients' satisfaction levels with PSO services from August to December 2023. 4 out of 11 patients were successfully interviewed.
1. Timely service received from PSO: 50% of participants agreed.
2. Expectations were met after assistance from PSO: 50% strongly agreed or agreed.
3. Overall satisfaction with PSO service: 75% strongly agreed or agreed.
