The effectiveness of out-of-hours dental services: II. patient satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE: To compare patients' satisfaction with four types of out-of-hours emergency dental service, including both 'walk-in' and telephone-access services. BASIC
DESIGN: Postal questionnaire survey of patients who had attended weekend emergency dental services. Patient satisfaction measured using an adapted version of a questionnaire developed for assessing out-of-hours medical services.
SETTING: Two health authorities in South Wales, UK.
SUBJECTS: The 411 patients who saw a dentist and completed the patient satisfaction questionnaire.
RESULTS: The quality of the dentist-patient encounter was similar across services, with most patients being satisfied with the dentist's attitude and manner, the explanations and advice given, and having to see an unfamiliar dentist. Satisfaction was lower, and differed more across services in relation to service accessibility and delays in getting to see a dentist out-of-hours. The walk-in services were perceived as the least accessible: around 40% said they had problems contacting a dentist when the surgery was closed (compared with 16% and 29% in the other two, telephone-access services). Only 12-14% of telephone-access patients said they would be 'happy with advice plus a reliable appointment when surgeries re-opened', whereas almost half of walk-in patients thought this.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite overall satisfaction with the dentist-patient encounter, there was relative dissatisfaction with the accessibility of all services, especially the walk-in services. Out-of-hours dental services should be better designed to reflect patients' needs: the need for telephone advice as well as face-to-face consultations, and greater awareness that theoretically available services may be difficult to access unless public expectations and awareness are raised.