Healthdirect's after hours GP helpline - A survey of patient satisfaction with the service and compliance with advice

Ling Li*, Andrew Georgiou, Juan Xiong, Mary Byrne, Maureen Robinson, Johanna I Westbrook

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference proceeding contributionpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
153 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The after hours GP helpline (AGPH), one of the key services provided by Healthdirect, is an extension of the existing healthdirect telephone nurse triage and advice service. It provides access to telephone health advice by GPS after hours to patients/callers who are triaged by the telephone nurse as needing to see a GP immediately, within four hours or within 24 hours. The aims of this study were to assess patient satisfaction with the AGPH service and compliance with the GP advice; and to investigate factors associated with patients' compliance. This study included 2486 patients/callers who used the AGPH and participated in a survey between February and September 2013. Over 97.1% of patients/callers were either satisfied or very satisfied with the AGPH service. Compliance was measured in two ways: i) self-reported compliance to advice provided; and ii) matching of selfreported actions with actual GP advice given: 94.0% of patients reported they followed the advice given to them by GPS and for 86.8% of patients their reported actions following consultations matched the recommended advice documented by GPS in the healthdirect database. Patients' compliance with recommended advice were associated with patient overall satisfaction with the service, the type of AGPH advice received, and the estimated severity level of the conditions. Improving patient satisfaction with the service along with patient understanding of the advice can lead to an increased compliance rate.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDigital Health Innovation for Consumers, Clinicians, Connectivity and Community - Selected Papers from the 24th Australian National Health Informatics Conference, HIC 2016
EditorsAndrew Georgiou, Louise K. Schaper, Sue Whetton
Place of PublicationAmsterdam, Netherlands
PublisherIOS Press
Pages87-92
Number of pages6
Volume227
ISBN (Electronic)9781614996668
ISBN (Print)9781614996651
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Event24th Australian National Health Informatics Conference, HIC 2016 - Melbourne, Australia
Duration: 25 Jul 201627 Jul 2016

Publication series

NameStudies in Health Technology and Informatics
Volume227
ISSN (Print)09269630
ISSN (Electronic)18798365

Other

Other24th Australian National Health Informatics Conference, HIC 2016
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityMelbourne
Period25/07/1627/07/16

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) and IOS Press 2016. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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