Patient Satisfaction Surveys: Questions, KPIs & Methods

Assessment of the quality of healthcare services is an integral part of the development of medical organizations. The quality of services provided by medical organizations is a multidimensional indicator that includes various factors. One of these factors is patient satisfaction.

Medical organizations are increasingly including the results of customer satisfaction in healthcare assessments in the development of quality control and efficiency improvement strategies.

For example, patient satisfaction assessment became mandatory for all hospitals in France starting in 1996. Then a wave of studies followed, which were aimed at determining the value of satisfaction and developing standardized methods for its assessment.

In the USA, in 2002 CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) jointly with AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) developed a standardized method for assessing patient satisfaction (HCAHPS - hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems) for evaluating the medical care provided.

The aim of the project was to provide the public with information about the effectiveness and quality of all hospitals for the convenience of patients. In addition, it was to create the ground for the development of medical services.

The Department of Health of England is required to conduct surveys every year among patients. In parallel, in Switzerland, the local quality improvement authority recommended using surveys to collect data on the medical services provided. Patient satisfaction can provide significant information in assessing the quality of medical care delivered, which cannot be measured by monitoring clinical indicators.

As you can see, the definition of patient satisfaction has been the focus of attention for more than 25 years. And today we'll try to give you a short but sufficient answers to the questions:

• Why are patient satisfaction surveys so crucial for your practice?
• What is patient experience in healthcare?
• Why is patient satisfaction important in healthcare?
• What are the ways to improve patient satisfaction in hospitals?
• What patient satisfaction measurement tools are there?

The Basic Principles of Ensuring High-quality Patient Experience

From various sources and survey results, we can identify the most common examples of patient experience goals and indicators of excellent patient feedback. Check out our table:

There are several reasons why it is important to assess the satisfaction of the population with the quality of medical services.

• Satisfaction is an indicator of the quality of healthcare services
• It can also be used to predict the level of patient retention
• It's vital for organizational aspects of hospitals (patient/nurse and patient/doctor relationships, cleanliness and absence of noise, hospital staff behaviour).

Getting access to the results of the satisfaction assessment is helpful for identifying problems and developing an action plan.

Commonly, ideas to improve patient satisfaction in the UK are assessed by means of a questionnaire, which consists of 12 questions and is calculated by the average value of the proportion of positive responses to the survey questions. It is recommended to cover at least 10% of respondents from the number of patients discharged from the hospital. In addition, it is recommended to cover at least 5% of respondents from the actual number of visits per shift for organizations.

Most patient experience surveys agree that age, gender, health status and level of education correlate with nurse satisfaction and patient outcomes

What does it mean?

A high quality of care score is associated with elderly patients, a high assessment of people's own health and a low level of education.

According to the results of a study in Scotland, it was revealed that patients over 50 years of age with a favorable assessment of their own health and its improvement showed a high level of satisfaction.

Also, it was found that married men tend to rate the level of satisfaction highly, but the longer patients stay in the hospital, the lower their satisfaction.

In a study conducted among 430 American hospitals, it was found that the "nurse work environment" and the "patient–nurse" relationship are statistically significant with increasing patient satisfaction and their future hospital recommendations to their acquaintances. It is critical to know that in this study patient satisfaction in healthcare was measured by factors of the HCAHPS questionnaire developed by CMS in collaboration with AHRQ.

Patient to staff attitudes and vice versa play a key role in improving patient satisfaction in hospital care settings. When hiring employees, make sure they have the right skills to communicate with patients:

• patience and critical thinking;
• knowledge of the services provided;
• verbal and non-verbal communication skills;
• the ability to explain complex terms in simple words;
• knowledge of medical legislation.

NHS Adult Inpatient Survey

The NHS Adult Inpatient Survey is one of the longest-running patient experience programmes in England. It has been conducted annually since 2004 across all NHS hospitals, collecting feedback from patients who stayed at least one night as an inpatient.

The information is collected and published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Results are used by the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care to assess and improve the quality of care, and to compile national statistics on patient satisfaction and health outcomes. In 2017, the average hospital coverage rate was 41%.

The most recent published results (Adult Inpatient Survey 2024, published September 2025) found that most patients reported positive interactions with hospital staff and felt involved in their own care. However, accessing elective inpatient care remained an area of difficulty, with around two in five patients feeling they waited too long to be admitted. Results generally remain worse than those reported in 2020, underscoring why continuous survey activity and follow-through on findings is essential for any healthcare organisation.

Key Patient Satisfaction KPIs Every Practice Should Track

Understanding what patients think requires more than collecting raw survey responses. Modern practice managers rely on standardised metrics to make scores comparable over time and across departments.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is one of the most widely used indicators. Patients are asked a single question: "How likely are you to recommend this practice to a friend or family member?" on a 0-to-10 scale. Those who answer 9 or 10 are "Promoters," 7 or 8 are "Passives," and 0 to 6 are "Detractors." NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters. A positive NPS indicates more advocates than critics. In healthcare, even a modest improvement in NPS correlates with stronger patient retention and word-of-mouth referrals.

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) measures satisfaction with a specific interaction, such as a recent appointment or a billing query. Patients rate their experience on a simple scale (typically 1 to 5), and the CSAT score is the percentage of respondents who selected the top one or two options. It is best used for transactional touchpoints where you want immediate feedback.

Patient Effort Score (CES) asks how easy it was for a patient to get the help they needed, for example booking an appointment or obtaining a referral. Lower effort consistently predicts higher loyalty. Practices that track CES alongside NPS and CSAT get a more complete picture of where friction exists in the patient journey.

Tracking these three metrics together allows practice managers to distinguish between patients who are broadly satisfied, patients who would actively recommend the practice, and patients who struggled to navigate the system regardless of clinical outcome.

The Friends and Family Test

The Friends and Family Test (FFT) is a feedback tool introduced across the NHS in England in 2013. It asks patients a single core question: "How likely are you to recommend our service to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?" Responses are collected on a six-point scale ranging from "Extremely likely" to "Extremely unlikely."

The FFT is now used across a wide range of NHS settings including inpatient wards, A and E departments, maternity services, and GP practices. Organisations are required to collect and submit FFT data monthly. Results are published publicly, making the test a transparency tool as well as a quality improvement mechanism.

For practice managers, the FFT offers a low-barrier way to gather real-time sentiment data. Because the question is standardised, scores can be benchmarked against other NHS organisations in the same region or service category. The FFT works best when the headline score is paired with free-text comments, which provide the actionable detail behind the number. SmartSurvey's NHS Patient Satisfaction Survey template incorporates the FFT question type and calculates mean scores automatically, enabling trend analysis over time.

Essential Patient Satisfaction Survey Questions to Include

Knowing which questions to ask is just as important as knowing how to ask them. The following categories and example questions provide a practical starting point for any practice building or refreshing a patient satisfaction survey.

Access and appointment booking

• "How easy was it to book your most recent appointment?" (Scale: 1 Very difficult to 5 Very easy)
• "How satisfied were you with the waiting time before your appointment?" (Scale: 1 Very dissatisfied to 5 Very satisfied)

Communication and information

• "Did the clinician explain your diagnosis and treatment options in a way you could understand?" (Yes / Partly / No)
• "Were you given enough information about what to expect after your appointment or procedure?" (Yes / Partly / No)

Staff behaviour and respect

• "Did you feel treated with dignity and respect during your visit?" (Always / Sometimes / Never)
• "How would you rate the helpfulness of reception and administrative staff?" (Scale: 1 to 5)

Overall experience and recommendation

• "Overall, how would you rate the care you received today?" (Scale: 1 Very poor to 10 Excellent)
• "How likely are you to recommend this practice to a friend or family member?" (Scale: 0 to 10, the NPS question)

Open feedback

• "Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your experience today?"

These questions map directly onto the HCAHPS categories and the FFT format, so scores remain comparable with national benchmarks. Keep the total survey to 10 to 12 questions to protect completion rates.

Best Methods for Distributing Patient Satisfaction Surveys

Collecting responses is only possible if patients actually receive and complete the survey. The method of distribution significantly affects response rates, demographic coverage, and data quality.

Email surveys are the most cost-effective option for practices with a well-maintained patient database. Automated triggers can send a short satisfaction survey within 24 to 48 hours of an appointment, while the experience is still fresh. Open rates improve when the email subject line references the specific visit rather than a generic "feedback request."

SMS surveys typically achieve higher open rates than email, often exceeding 90%, and are particularly effective for reaching younger and working-age patients. A single-question NPS or FFT prompt with a link to a short form works well in this format.

In-practice tablets or kiosks placed in waiting rooms or at reception allow patients to complete surveys immediately after their visit. This method works well for capturing feedback from patients who are less likely to respond to digital follow-up, including older patients.

EHR and practice management software integration is the most efficient long-term solution. Platforms like Medesk can automate survey dispatch based on appointment type, clinician, or patient group, and feed responses directly into the reporting dashboard. This removes manual steps and ensures no appointment cohort is missed.

Postal surveys remain relevant in some NHS contexts, particularly for older inpatient populations, though response times are slower and processing costs are higher.

Using a combination of two methods, typically email plus SMS, usually delivers the best response rate for a typical GP or specialist practice.

From Data to Action: Interpreting Survey Results Operationally

Collecting survey data is only valuable if it leads to concrete changes. Practice managers often have access to satisfaction scores but struggle to translate them into operational decisions. The steps below provide a practical framework.

Step 1: Segment before you summarise. Overall scores mask variation. Break results down by appointment type, day of week, clinician, and patient demographic group. A low access score on Monday mornings may point to a staffing gap at a specific time, not a systemic problem.

Step 2: Identify recurring themes in free-text responses. Quantitative scores tell you the scale of a problem. Open-ended comments tell you what the problem actually is. Group comments into categories (waiting times, communication, facilities, billing) and count frequency.

Step 3: Prioritise by impact and feasibility. Not every low-scoring area requires immediate action. Plot issues on a simple grid: high patient impact versus ease of change. Address high-impact, easy-to-change items first to generate visible improvements quickly.

Step 4: Set a measurable target and a review date. For each priority area, define what improvement looks like in numbers. For example, increasing the appointment access CSAT score from 3.2 to 3.8 within three months. Without a specific target, results are reviewed but rarely acted upon.

Step 5: Close the feedback loop with patients. If your practice makes a change based on survey findings, tell patients. A short message in your newsletter or waiting room noting "you told us, we changed it" builds trust and improves future response rates.

How to Make the Most Effective Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire for Your Practice

The development of the application form should begin with the selection of questions that respond to patient perceptions. Usually, interviews with patients are conducted to solve this problem, the main questions being:

1. What did you enjoy the most?
2. What did you like the least?
3. What would you like to change?
4. What does providing exceptional patient care mean to you?

Depending on the category, patients' responses must be coded and grouped. Additionally, survey data allows us to select questions for the pilot version of the questionnaire. Additional questions should be divided into categories that are reliable and accurate.

To fully understand the main ideas of reliability and accuracy, we recommend you to have a look at the example of CAHPS online surveys. Many existing survey instruments are based on its questions and principles. You can also take advantage of AI and use an AI survey generator to create a survey based on the information you feed it.

Tailoring surveys for primary care and GP practices

The GP Patient Survey is a large-scale national survey commissioned by NHS England that assesses patients' experiences of their GP surgery, including appointment access, quality of care, and out-of-hours services. If you run a GP practice, your internal surveys should complement rather than duplicate this national instrument.

For primary care settings specifically, consider adding questions that reflect the continuity of care relationship: "Do you usually see or speak to the same GP or nurse?" and "How confident are you in managing your condition after your last appointment?" These questions address dimensions of primary care quality that standard inpatient surveys do not capture. The GP Patient Survey results are published annually and can serve as a useful external benchmark when assessing your own survey scores.

Evaluating Results and General Recommendations

There are 10 categories (19 questions) and a final rating in the HCAHPS questionnaire, which are used to determine the overall rating of the hospital.

Questions are evaluated based on their type.

• The hospital score is evaluated on a ten-point scale
• Yes/No questions are evaluated on a 1-point scale.

It is imperative to adjust the effects of personal experience, the survey method (by phone, email or apps) and quarterly weighing.

Correction methods and their compilation methods, such as patient-mix adjustment and phone/mail mode adjustments, can be found on the official website, in the category "Mode & Patient-Mix Adj".

The application of adjustments is accompanied by a weighted average of the scores for each indicator, by weighing proportionally for each patient who answered the care survey.

The table below shows, as an example, the awarding of points by "stars".

Regardless of the statistical results, the choice of the distribution of questions by category, the number of categories and the inclusion/exclusion of individual questions from the template should be developed during discussion with experts.

When developing and translating into other languages, questions include:

Be clear and ask about one element

Be evaluated on the Likert Scale - 4-5 point scale; hospital assessment, the work of nurses and doctors on a ten-point scale.

The results of this evaluation method give healthcare organizations the opportunity to check the relationship between variables, and build a model that will predict the behavior of some factors. In addition, it will allow for a more objective assessment.

Special attention should be paid to the content of the questions regarding patient satisfaction and quality of care. Let's consider some most common ones.

"Are you satisfied with the organization of primary care in this institution (for example, the work of the registry, the availability of an appointment, offices schedule, waiting rooms, etc.)?"

Patients are asked about several elements of organization. Both respondents and researchers will not be able to understand the content of the question objectively.

The next question has a similar drawback:

"How do you evaluate sanitary and hygienic conditions and comfort in a medical organization?"

Sanitary and hygienic conditions and comfort carry different concepts. These are separate variables that need their own questions.

Please keep in mind that, during the pilot analysis of the satisfaction scores, it is recommended that questions be simplified and the content changed. This is because respondents had difficulty understanding the questions. Questions should ask about one variable.

We have often come across questions like:

"Did you have to pay for medical services or the cost of a drug included in the list of guaranteed free medical care in this institution?"

In this case, we recommend you check beforehand whether your patients know what free services they can receive. Then, if needed, you can ask this question.

Otherwise, the answers may be incorrect and don't show the real picture (frankly speaking, they are going to show nothing).

The developed survey should not remain unchanged after the pilot study (online or offline). It is recommended to conduct a regular analysis of the questionnaire to improve it.

During each analysis, questions must be asked about the need for new questions and factors, as well as their exclusion.

Defining the meanings of some terms before developing a questionnaire can reduce misunderstandings and difficulties among patients, researchers and medical organizations.

Don't forget to use the 21st century advantages! Modern practice management software has a Reports and Analytics module that can help you create real-time reports showing your patient's demographic and statistics. It is likely that you will need this information while making your own question forms for surveys.

Criteria for the Successful Conduct of Patient Studies

To conduct an independent assessment of the quality of medical organizations and the patient satisfaction improvement strategies, a system of indicators of the quality of work is proposed.

For medical organizations in outpatient settings, it is recommended to use indicators of the quality of work (17 pieces) that characterize it according to 5 criteria, one of which is

#1. Satisfaction with the quality of service in a medical organization,

assessed by the following indicators:

• Satisfaction with the conditions of waiting for a doctor's appointment in the queue (in the hospital environment)
• Availability of quality healthcare at home
• Satisfaction with visiting a medical organization
• The percentage of patients who are ready to recommend a medical organization or a clinician.

Other evaluation criteria and indicators:

#2. Openness and accessibility of information about the medical organization:

• The rating level on the website
• Completeness, relevance and clarity of information about the medical organization posted on the official website
• Availability and accessibility of feedback methods with consumers of health services
• The proportion of patients who consider informing themselves about the work of a medical organization and the procedure for providing medical services sufficient, from the number of respondents
• The proportion of patients satisfied with the quality and completeness of the information available on the official website of the medical organization.

#3. Comfort of conditions and accessibility of medical services, including for citizens with disabilities

• The percentage of patients who made an appointment with a doctor at the first visit to a medical organization
• The average waiting time for a doctor's visit since the appointment
• Availability of an appointment with a doctor, including by phone, on the Internet, at the reception, through personal communication with the attending physician.

#4. Waiting time in the queue when receiving medical services

• For a doctor's visit (in minutes)
• For planned hospitalization from the moment of receiving a direction for planned hospitalization
• For diagnostic test results.

#5. Benevolence, politeness and competence during the patient care

• The share of service consumers who highly appreciate the benevolence, politeness and attentiveness of medical organization employees
• The share of service consumers who highly appreciate the competence of medical workers.

Examples of Positive Patient Experiences: Patient Testimonials

UGC (User-Generated Content) continues to grow in popularity in 2026: reviews, testimonials, photos, videos, articles, and whatever else you can think of. To leverage this growth, brands increasingly collaborate with UGC creators to produce authentic and engaging content.

Why is UGC becoming more and more popular?

1. Trust: people trust other people's opinions more than advertising.
2. Authenticity: UGC is an honest and unedited look at a product or service.
3. Engagement: UGC encourages users to interact with the brand.
4. SEO: UGC can improve a website's search engine ranking.

Statistics back this up:

85% of consumers trust UGC more than traditional advertising. 90% of users are more likely to make a purchase if a site has reviews.

By using patient testimonials as part of your UGC promotion strategy, you significantly increase the loyalty of potential patients, and many organisations partner with UK UGC creators to strengthen the authenticity of these efforts.

We recommend creating a separate section on your website or blog for testimonials. Publish case studies, patient success stories, utilise various media formats.

In addition to written testimonials, consider incorporating multimedia elements such as videos or audio recordings. Regularly update the UGC section to demonstrate ongoing healthcare patient satisfaction and help prospective patients see that your practice consistently delivers quality care and hospital improvement ideas.

Gather Yelp reviews

People read reviews before choosing a specialist, including a doctor. That's how UGC works. For brands that care about their reputation, it's important to collect and respond to patient reviews on aggregators like Yelp. A few guidelines on how to improve patient experience in hospitals and healthcare satisfaction:

1. Designate a person responsible for reviews. This is important to always stay in touch with patients, respond quickly to complaints and praise, and look for ideas for content marketing to improve patient satisfaction scores.
2. Encourage patients to leave reviews. Use email campaigns, social media posts, lead magnets.
3. The best way to get great reviews and demonstrate new patient experience is to provide relevant service. The better patient care you provide, the less you'll have to worry about reviews.
4. Respond to all reviews, negative and positive. Deal with the feedback, apologise if necessary and provide discounts. This shows that you value the opinions of patients and are committed to providing quality care and reaching patient experience goals.

Less Is More

Also, it is worth mentioning that for a successful study of patient satisfaction metrics you must pay specific attention to the implementation of a system of customer surveys, starting with an annual strategic cross-section of changes in the customer experience, ending with a system for dealing with complaints and appeals to the clinic.

We highly recommend you to focus your attention on one or two priority areas, which reveal the model of customer behavior. Spraying funds on everything will lead to mediocre results that no one can notice.

Clients are asked to evaluate the company, so make sure the words you use are not ornate or vague, that the questions in your survey aren't too deep, and that you don't take up the client's personal time asking dozens of questions - limit yourself to no more than 10-12 questions that include information about the client and patient's perspectives.

To cut it short, we would like to remind you: satisfied patients are a successful medical center! So, make sure you know everything about patients' loyalty, their acquisition and retention!

We recommend you read other recent blog posts related to marketing, the hospital environment and patient satisfaction:

• SMS Marketing in the Healthcare Sector (with a Sales Funnel Example)
• How to Build an Online Consultation Platform or Website
• Referral Marketing Strategy for Doctors: Boosting Patient Referrals