Psychiatric inpatients' satisfaction with services: A pilot study

INTRODUCTION: Fifty-three patients admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit in South London were interviewed to ascertain their satisfaction with serv ices provided for them. METHOD: The level of satisfaction with various aspects of treatment was eva luated using a 45-item questionnaire. RESULTS: Results showed that patients were generally satisfied with the sta ff attitudes and cave, although two-thirds felt that they had not been suff iciently involved in their own treatment planning. Younger patients reporte d more frequent difficulties in the relationship with staff. Patients were generally satisfied with the physical environment, Patients with a higher n umber of previous admissions weve more satisfied with the planning of care, and they were less often in conflict with the staff. Patients admitted com pulsorily were less satisfied than voluntary patients with the overall qual ity of the help received and said they would rarely re-contact the service in the future. There was virtually no effect of ethnicity on the levels of satisfaction in different aspects of cave. The only worry expressed more fr equently by African-Caribbean patients was about ve-contacting the service in the future, even though they felt the help received in planning their di scharge was good. CONCLUSION: It would be useful to carry out such surveys more often.