The report, which was conducted by the Vietnam Initiative and the non-governmental organisation Oxfam Vietnam, was released at a conference organised in Hanoi on March 27.

According to Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management under the Ministry of Health Luong Ngoc Khue, the health ministry, in collaboration with experts from the Vietnam Initiative and the US’s Indiana University, built and piloted the PSI by interviewing on the phone nearly 3,000 in-patients who were already discharged from 29 provincial- and district-level hospitals in 21 provinces and cities nationwide, during the period from September 2016 to November 2017.

Khue said five years ago, hospital overload was a pressing issue and the biggest challenge for healthcare system, especially cardiovascular, cancer and trauma departments, adding that quality of medical examination was not good enough to meet the patients’ expectation.

Thanks to a line-up of measures undertaken by the health sector, hospitals at all levels have been working to improve their service quality, from human resource, professional skills to facility and attitude of the medical staff.

As the network of satellite hospitals in 63 cities and provinces is expanding, hospital overload has decreased significantly. The rate of patients transferred from provincial hospitals to centrally-run hospitals has dropped remarkably, by 98.5 percent among cardiovascular and surgery cases, 97 percent among cancer cases, 99 percent among obstetrics cases and 73 percent among paediatrics cases.

Among the 29 surveyed hospitals, five were rated Very good, 16 Good, eight Fair and two Average. All hospitals in the Very good and Average were provincial-level establishments.

The researchers identified six significant factors that decide quality of medical treatment and patient satisfaction. Those include: ability to access medical service; transparent information on examination and treatment; medical staff’s attitude and their competency; drug distribution and guidance of use; examination and treatment expenses; and hospital infrastructure.

Nguyen Lan Huong from the Vietnam Initiative said that the highest satisfaction was seen in the ability to access healthcare service (4.15/5 points). Meanwhile, the patients expressed lowest satisfaction towards hospital infrastructure (3.45/5 points).

The survey found that patients who received treatment at upper-level hospital felt more satisfied with healthcare service than those experiencing treatment at district-level hospitals.

At the district level, patients were dissatisfied with the manner and professional ability of the medical staff as well as the treatment results. Thus, the district level hospitals should make more efforts to better their capacity.

The surveyed also showed that patients covered by health insurance were more satisfied in four out of six factors: ability to access healthcare service, transparent information, medical staff’s manner and professional capacity, and treatment expenditures. The largest gap between those covered by health insurance and those not, was seen in the satisfaction about treatment expenses, with 3.93 points among insured patients compared to only 3.72 points among the other group. Meanwhile, lower satisfaction was recorded regarding treatment results and medical infrastructure.

The survey showed that radical reform in health insurance payment in the past time has ensured rights for the patients while providing them with better medical services.