Suffield Ambulance Tops Patient Surveys

Sixteen months ago, the Suffield Volunteer Ambulance Association engaged a respected survey firm to send patient experience surveys to all customers. The results have been stunningly positive. The satisfaction rate for the SVAA is 97.4% on a rolling 12-month basis. That rating ranks first among the 250 other ambulance services from around the nation that the survey firm does business with.

“I will argue that this is the quantification of how we have long felt we do a very good job in the areas the survey explores”, said Board of Trustees Chairman Don Miner. “It matches the informal feedback we have gotten over the years.”

The surveying started in summer 2023. Every patient who the service encounters is sent a survey. Patients that are age 62 or older receive a letter, while patients under 62 who provided cell phone info receive a text instead. The surveys go out every two weeks using refreshed data to reach the new patients.

Feedback is requested in five categories: the ambulance itself, billing, dispatch service, performance by the medics and overall experience.

The ambulance is rated on timeliness, cleanliness, comfort, driving skill displayed and an overall-composite score.
Billing is rated on professionalism of staff and willingness to address your needs.

Dispatch, a service provided by the Suffield Police, is rated on helpfulness, the level of concern shown, instruction given on what to do before the ambulance arrived, and an overall-composite score.

The medics are rated on care shown, understanding your problem, listening to you and your family, medical skill, how well you were informed about your treatment, the extent to which you were included in the treatment decisions, the degree to which your pain or discomfort were relieved, the level of concern shown for privacy and an overall composite score.

Last, the overall experience is rated: how well did our staff work together, did they ease your entry into the medical facility, how appropriate was the emergency medical transportation treatment, were the services worth the fees charged, the overall rating of the care provided and the likelihood of recommending this ambulance service to others. There are also areas to comment freely.

The idea for doing satisfaction surveys came from the SVAA’s strategic plan and it lives in its mission statement. Chief John Spencer explains, “We want to be progressive in our patient care and that is measured through outcomes and satisfaction. We want feedback, be it good or bad. We want to give our staff feedback about what they are doing right, too.”

The dispatcher feedback is provided to the Suffield Police. Our Police are rated above the national rankings in every category, scoring high on helpfulness, caring and instructing on what to do at the scene while the ambulance is on its way.

The SVAA has been at or near the top of these rankings for months, excelling above much larger care companies with bigger service areas, resources and data pools.

Chief Spencer reads all feedback and comments. Positive messages are frequent.

“It’s been enlightening and positive. We did our annual audit and financial presentation to the Suffield Board of Finance recently, which we do voluntarily in good faith and for transparency. “We were able to tell them we are measuring patient satisfaction and your small, local service is rated #1 among 250”, said the Chief. It’s a distinction our town can take pride in.