Abstract
Patient satisfaction is a crucial indicator of healthcare service quality. Governments and policymakers worldwide are continuously striving to enhance healthcare systems to ensure citizens have access to high-quality care. The government of South Africa commitment to providing quality health care, has initiated programs like Batho Pele and the National Health Insurance (NHI) to improve health care delivery and accessibility. However, patient satisfaction in Positron Emission Tomography/ Computed Tomography (PET/CT) imaging facilities, introduced in South Africa in 2005, remains poorly understood. This quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive, and retrospective research study aimed to assess patient satisfaction with PET/CT services in Gauteng's public hospitals, South Africa, and propose recommendations for improvement.
A self-developed questionnaire with closed-ended questions to evaluate patient satisfaction among 226 randomly selected PET/CT examination patients in public hospitals in Gauteng, South Africa. The data was analysed using 2023 Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 29. Frequency tables, means and standard deviations, presented in tables, graphs, pie-charts and text. The results of this study revealed that the majority of patients who underwent PET/CT examinations in three public hospitals in Gauteng Province, South Africa, were satisfied. However, the study also indicated that there is a need for improvement when advising patients on the choice of appointment times as well as providing services at the planned times.
One of the limitations of this study is that it focused only on the three public hospitals in Gauteng Province, hence it was not possible to generalise the results to other hospitals in South Africa. Furthermore, the study focused on a quantitative data, which limited it to offer an in-depth exploration and explanation of how and what contributes to patient satisfaction in the PET/CT department, therefore qualitative research is recommended.