ABSTRACT
The rate of incidence of vascular disease and associated limb amputation can be anticipated to mirror the reported epidemic of obesity in the Western world. This presents a growing challenge to the provision of prosthetic services. There are currently 43 Disablement Services Centers (DSC) in the UK National Health Service (NHS), each offering prosthetic rehabilitation. A previous study has revealed that there are no guidelines for patient rehabilitation pathways therefore centers are required to produce their own. This has resulted in a situation where the information given to patients is unique to each center. The level of service provision across the UK appears to vary greatly with very little known about the patient experience and whether the service being provided is fulfilling patient’s needs and expectations. In order to ascertain patient’s satisfaction with the service being provided, an extensive user centered questionnaire survey was undertaken which covered nine main topics. The survey was distributed via the internet and of the 105 participant responses, 96 were usable for analysis. Investigation of the results using SPSS and thematic analysis showed that satisfaction with service provision and prosthesis satisfaction are very closely linked. Participants felt that counseling should be available at every DSC and patient volunteer visitors were considered to be beneficial. The information given to participants by DSCs was primarily verbal with 41% of participants not receiving any information on the ward prior to their amputation. Patients place a high importance on having a spare limb and 71% of those that do not receive one stated that they had not had the reasons for this fully explained to them. Recommendations include standardization of information given to patients with timely support at critical times in the patient pathway.
