A service evaluation of patient satisfaction with the current standard of glaucoma care provision at Derriford Hospital

Aims/Purpose: The social and economic burden of glaucoma are likely to increase in the future because of longer life expectancies and an ageing population.

Healthcare providers must continually monitor and improve their management of glaucoma patients.

The project's purpose was to identify areas of improvement in the Royal Eye Infirmary at Derriford Hospital's provision of glaucoma care and thereby, advance the European Glaucoma Society's mission statement to maintain or improve the quality of life in affected patients.

Methods: The methodology included the following:

• Designing the Glaucoma Service Evaluation (12 questions)
• Administering the Service Evaluation
• Statistical Analysis of the Results

Responses were based on a five-point Likert Scale, with 1 being the most negative patient satisfaction score and 5 being the most positive.

Results: 50 patients, comprising 28 males and 22 females, undertook the questionnaire.

The mean age was 73 years.

Patient response rate to all 12 questions was 100%.

The average five-point Likert Scale Score across all 12 questions was 4.35.

Conclusions: The results suggest that overall patient satisfaction with the standard of glaucoma care at Derriford Hospital is positive to a large extent.

Patients are happy with evolutions in glaucoma care such as Virtual Clinics, and the role of allied health professionals.

However, it identified significant areas of improvement - enhancing patient education through the use of leaflets.

This service evaluation demonstrated that patients are largely satisfied with the current level of glaucoma care at Derriford Hospital. Most patients are open to novel initiatives, which would minimise patient waiting time at clinics.

More measures, such as patient counselling of medication side-effects and distribution of informative leaflets, should be implemented to improve the standard of glaucoma care and hence, raise patient satisfaction at Derriford Hospital.

References

1. Batra R, Sharma H, Elaraoud I, Mohamed S. Resource Planning in Glaucoma: A Tool to Evaluate Glaucoma Service Capacity. Seminars in Ophthalmology. 2017;:1-6.
2. Holdsworth E, Datta J, Marks D, Kuper H, Lee H, Leamon S et al. A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of a Community-Based Glaucoma Check Service in Hackney, London, UK. Ophthalmic Epidemiology. 2017;24(4):248-256.