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Satisfaction of ottenders and non-attenders with their treatments at psychiatric out-patient clinics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Helen Killaspy ,
Julia Gledhill  and
Sube Banerjee
Helen Killaspy
Affiliation:
Royal Free Hospital London
Julia Gledhill
Affiliation:
Royal Free Hospital London
Sube Banerjee*
Affiliation:
Section of Epidemiology and General Practice, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

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Aims and method

Non-attendance at psychiatric outpatient appointments has a substantial financial cost, and may also have clinical significance. To prevent non-attendance and formulate effective responses, its determinants need to be understood. Patient dissatisfaction with services has been suggested as a reason for non-attendance, we therefore investigated the role of patient satisfaction in attendance at psychiatric out-patients appointments. All patients booked for adult psychiatric out-patient follow-up appointments in a three-month period were studied using a brief, self-report questionnaire.

Results

Sixty-three per cent (340/538) of offenders and 54% (118/219) of non-attenders responded. Responders expressed high levels of satisfaction with their treatment (92% offenders, 91% non-attenders) and with the service (96% attenders 92% non-attenders). Despite adequate statistical power, there were no statistically significant differences in satisfaction between the two groups.

Clinical implications

In conclusion, patient satisfaction with psychiatric out-patient care was reported to be relatively high and did not seem to be an important determinant of non-attendance. Further work is needed to determine the impact of variables such as relapse and social disorganisation on attendance.

Type
Original Papers
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 22 , Issue 10 , October 1998 , pp. 612 - 615
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

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