Overall satisfaction with Dubai healthcare services, states recent survey

The on-line survey was commissioned by PA Consulting Group to examine patients' views on the quality of healthcare in Dubai and involved nearly 500 people who live or work in Dubai and 400 patients who have visited a hospital or clinic in the past 2 years.

Majority of respondents satisfied with services in Dubai:

73% of all respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of healthcare in Dubai, however amongst Emiratis only 53% of all respondents were satisfied.

Speaking at the conference, PA's International Healthcare Partner Howard Lyons, said:

"It appears that there is a difference between the views of Emiratis and Western Expats. Overall, 64% of Western Expats thought the private hospitals provided better healthcare than the government compared with only 43% of Emiratis. When it comes to what is the most important requirement for ensuring quality of healthcare, only 56% of Emiratis mentioned highly-skilled medical staff whilst nearly 80% of Western Expats made this the number one priority. Emiratis also regard well equipped facilities and an effective regulatory body as key components of high quality healthcare services."

Health Insurance will improve access to Healthcare services:

81% felt health insurance will make healthcare more accessible and this rose to 90% amongst the over 50s age group. However, the majority of respondents felt they were not sufficiently informed about the new health insurance scheme.

57% of respondents felt that the introduction of health insurance will improve the quality of healthcare.

Lyons said, "Dubai has ambitions to be a world class city and has already made its mark in the world through its prestige construction projects like Burj Al Arab, Atlantis, the Burj Tower and the Palm Islands. However, building a world class health system takes much longer and requires commitment and leadership from the very top, right down to the front-line clinical staff giving high quality treatment on a day-to-day basis. You can't just change the system overnight, you need to change the performance of every individual in the system whether in the government hospitals or in the private sector."

PA Consulting is one of the worlds leading healthcare consulting firms specialising in Performance Improvement and Health Sector Reform and was engaged by the Government last year to design the Blueprint for the new health system for Dubai.