Patients’ voice about the quality of health services in public hospitals began to be systematically reflected through the new digital evaluation tool, which was implemented on July 14.

Already, within just a month more than a month, more than 32,000 SMS have been sent and 25% of the questionnaires have been answered, offering valuable data on hospital experience.

The first items show high satisfaction of citizens, Mostly as to the adequacy of the medical staff, with 92% stating that it received the necessary care from the appropriate specialties, while at extremely positive levels are the evaluations for the courtesy and respect of the staff, as well as the provision of clear instructions before the discharge. However, lower scores recorded in the numerical adequacy of nursing staff, her cleanliness of the spaces, quality of feeding and psychological support of patients, Areas that emerge as key priorities of improvement.

“The response so far is valued as an extremely encouraging and we expect an increase in completed questionnaires next time,” he told the Athens Agency, The Secretary General of Health Services Lilian Vildiridis.

It even invites the patients to devote a few minutes of their time and to complete the questionnaire they will receive with SMS five days after their discharge.

Following is the interview of the Secretary General of Health Services Lilian Vildiridis in Efi Fousseki:

Q: On July 14, the evaluation of the health and hospital services provided by the NHS hospitals by patients began. How many sms have been sent and how many answers the Ministry of Health has collected?

A: The political leadership of the Ministry of Health and I personally are very happy to implement and commence the digital patient evaluation tool.

Since July 14, when the SMS mission began until August 20, 32,457 SMS has been sent to the URL LINK, with about one in four questionnaires.

It is noteworthy that the tool methodology was based on international standards, utilizing PATIENT Reported Experience Measures, which reflect the experience of hospitalization as the patient experienced. One of the most important advantages of the new tool is that it is simple and understood in its use and allows for the collection of reliable data in a systematic and impassable manner, in order to be further elaborate and usable for designing documented policies and making timeless comparisons.

The response so far is valued as an extremely encouraging and we expect an increase in completed questionnaires, the more familiar with the digital evaluation tool and their confidence that the results of their answers will be taken seriously. Patients’ experience is valuable to us, so I would like to invite the patients to devote a few minutes of their time, at most five, and fill out the questionnaire they will receive with SMS five days after their discharge.

Q: The aim of the new tool is to highlight potential problems. What do the data to date show?

By: Through the new tool we seek to enable citizens who wish to share their experience and express either their satisfaction or their dissatisfaction with their hospital conditions. That is why, through a total of 35 closed -type questions, basic areas cover the entire spectrum of hospital experience, from scheduled or emergency entrance to the hospital to discharge, and determine the quality and safety of care provided.

Such areas are access to services, organization and management of care, the patient’s interaction with staff, the support given to patients during their hospitalization, the information they received and their degree of participation in their health decisions, cleanliness, hygiene and food. Furthermore, a group of questions concerns the information of the citizens about the existence of the offices of the rights of the rights of health services and the effectiveness of their service. Finally, the general, overall evaluation of the care provided, as the patient experienced.

From the first elements we can see a generally very positive evaluation of the hospital experience in almost all areas mentioned above. In particular, great satisfaction was expressed for the adequacy of the medical staff, as 92% of the participants reported that the hospital had sufficient medical staff and the specialties needed for their health problem. The interaction of the nurses with the whole staff, and in particular the courtesy and respect shown by it, was also very high. These data, of course, make us happy, as we place great emphasis on the strengthening and rational distribution of medical staff and proceed with targeted notices of NHS Doctors’ posts and recruitment of auxiliary medical staff, always taking into account both the demands of the hospitals and their vacancies.

Points that have also been positively included are the overall coordination of care, with high satisfaction rates gathering the cooperation between departments and health professionals, informing the therapeutic team on the medical history and medical treatment of the patient, providing information on the risk of risks/risks. Typically, 90% of participants said they received written or oral instructions, which were easy to understand.

Q: Is there already a special problem, which is most often highlighted in the answers?

A: Of course, we are satisfied with the positive answers and the high satisfaction of the citizens expressed through them. However, the goal of the questionnaire, like any quality control research, is through the negative answers, to listen to the problems and difficulties that citizens face in their hospitalization.

In this sense, we take very seriously the relatively low satisfaction rates that collect areas, for which further improvement is required. From the data so far, the numerical adequacy of the nursing staff was assessed as lower than the necessary level by a significant part of the participants. In addition, based on results, attention areas include the cleanliness of hospitalization chambers and other hospital sites, the quality of the feeding and the provision of psychological support to the hospitalized in difficult times. Also, lower percentages have been raised by information on lifestyle changes, social services or additional care services (eg home hospitalization), as well as the degree of information on the existence and role of the Protection of Rights of Health Services. The Ministry of Health is already implementing actions that will contribute to upgrading their institutional role and strengthening their work produced. Both in the field of protection and promotion of the rights of recipients and health services and their further interconnection with evaluation.

Q: Based on the answers, the Ministry of Health is adopting appropriate measures and improvement actions. How will this be done?

A: The questionnaires completed until 20.8.2025 reflect the patient’s hospital experience of a total of 95 hospitals and 504 clinics across the country. However, we expect the concentration of a larger sample in order to draw in particular conclusions. The aim is to obtain adequate data that will also allow further analysis for individual hospitals and their clinics, as well as comparative data on urban centers in relation to those in the Region. Thus, we will proceed with the design and implementation of targeted actions to alleviate any inequalities in the quality and safety of the services provided, both between hospitals in the same Ministry and between different health regions, with the utmost focus of the needs of the population they serve.

In addition, as has already been announced, in the next phase, special categories of hospitals will be included in the evaluation process, starting with oncology hospitals, while questionnaires will gradually formulate to measure the satisfaction of citizens in specific departments, such as the Departments.

When the planning of the Ministry of Health is fully implemented, we will have a comprehensive and documented picture of the conditions of hospitalization and stay of citizens in the hospitals of the National Health System. This image will constantly feed the design and targeted measures to improve the quality and security of the services provided, based on immediate feedback by the citizens themselves.