Consumer satisfaction with the services of prosthetics and orthotics facilities

Consumer satisfaction with the services provided in a prosthetics and orthotics (PO) facility has seldom been studied. The aim of this study was to analyze consumer satisfaction regarding the services provided by 15 PO facilities in The Netherlands. Consumers (n=1,364) of these PO facilities who were fitted with a prosthesis, orthopaedic shoes, an orthosis, or another device, were asked to rate the overall services provided and whether they were satisfied with the device provided and its delivery time. Additionally, they filled in a modified SERVQUAL questionnaire (see Appendix). Consumers gave the service provided by PO facilities a mean overall rating of 8.1. The highest ratings were given by consumers fitted with a prosthesis (mean overall rating of services: 8.4). In total, 78% of the consumers were satisfied with the device provided and 93% with the delivery time. The results of our study showed that, on the SERVQUAL, 50% of the statements fulfilled the criteria for a satisfactory quality of the services. The overall consumer rating of the service provided by PO facilities is high and depends on the device provided. The outcomes on the SERVQUAL were moderate. In future, it is important to study consumer satisfaction more extensively in order to improve the quality of PO services in daily practice. Additionally, specific questionnaires need to be developed to measure all aspects of prosthetic and orthotic care, with the aim to improve the services.