There has been considerable change in the provision of out-of-hours primary care in the UK and Europe in the last 20 years.1–5 The growth of GP cooperatives and deputising services has resulted in a change in the care setting, away from the home to the primary care centre and telephone consultations.5
It has been argued that attempts to evaluate the quality of out-of-hours care have been concerned with the process of care,6 and that there is a lack of appropriate outcome measures that incorporate the views of patients, including their satisfaction with services.7 Studies that have attempted to measure the outcomes or the quality of care of out-of-hours care from a patient perspective have included comparisons of different providers, including observational studies and randomised controlled trials.8–11 Other studies have sought to compare different modes of care from the same provider, including consultations at primary care centres, home visits, and telephone advice.10 There has been a national survey of patient views of out-of-hours care within the Netherlands,5 and it has been recommended that providers monitor patient satisfaction in the UK.12,13
These studies included surveys of patient satisfaction in the form of interview- or self-administered questionnaires based on summated rating scales. Several such questionnaires are now available for assessing patient satisfaction with out-of-hours care, more recent examples being based on more rigorous approaches to development and testing.1,5,7 Following recommendations that providers should regularly monitor patient satisfaction,12,13 it is important that the selection of questionnaires designed to measure such concepts takes account of the needs of users while taking into consideration evidence relating to the data quality, reliability, and validity.
How this fits in
The evaluation of out-of-hours care requires appropriate measures of patient satisfaction. Systematic searches produced four questionnaires which differed in content and evidence to support their application. Two questionnaires had scales with unsatisfactory reliability, and all had limited evidence for validity. Questionnaire content and evidence for data quality, reliability, and validity should be considered before application.
The work that follows is based on a systematic review of questionnaires designed to measure patient satisfaction with out-of-hours care. Following structured searches of the literature, information relating to the development, content, and evidence for data quality, reliability, and validity were extracted. The review will inform potential users, including service providers, of the availability and appropriateness of questionnaires. The identification of limitations of existing questionnaires will inform future developmental and evaluative work.