WOMENS SATISFACTION WITH GENERAL-PRACTICE CONSULTATIONS

Objective: To determine women's satisfaction with general practice ser vices. Design: Cross-sectional postal questionnaire conducted during A pril to September 1996 (part of the baseline survey of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health). Participants: Women aged 18-22 (n=14739), 45-49 (n=14013) and 70-74 (n=12941) years, randomly selecte d from the Medicare database, with oversampling of women from rural an d remote areas. Main outcome measures: Frequency of use of general pra ctice services; satisfaction with the most recent visit to a general p ractitioner (CP), prevalence of selected symptoms; preference for a fe male doctor. Results: The most recent visit to a GP was rated overall as good, very good or excellent by more than 80% of women, with increa sing levels of satisfaction with increasing age of the women. However, satisfaction was lower for waiting room time and cost of the visit. A third of the young and middle-aged women living in rural and remote a reas were dissatisfied with the cost of the visit. Young women were mo re likely to prefer a female doctor, and many were dissatisfied with t heir GP's skills at explaining their problem and giving them a chance to give an opinion and ask questions. The most prevalent symptoms for all women included headaches and tiredness, and many were not satisfie d with the health services available to help them deal with these symp toms. Conclusions: Australian women have high levels of satisfaction w ith GP consultations. However, more effective strategies may be needed to improve communication with younger women, and there is an unmet ne ed for services to help all women deal with some common symptoms. Diss atisfaction with cost of services and women's preference for female do ctors have implications for future health policy.