Primary Healthcare
Monitoring Primary Health Care users' satisfaction (2009-2010)
Methods
All 377 UCSPs and 394 USFs existing in mainland Portugal on December 31, 2013 were considered at the outset.
However, the USF Atlântico of the USF Alto Minho closed its activity and was therefore not considered in this study.
For the purpose of feasibility of comparison between USFs and UCSPs, only UCSPs with at least 3 family doctors and a percentage of users without a family doctor of less than 20% were considered.
Then 51 UCSPs were randomly selected, corresponding to 30.7% of the UCSPs that passed the previous criteria.
The final number of functional units under study was then as shown in the following table:
| ARS | UCSP | USF-A | USF-B | Σ |
| Norte | 22 | 87 | 112 | 221 |
| Centro | 6 | 29 | 16 | 51 |
| Lisboa e Vale do Tejo | 15 | 69 | 56 | 140 |
| Alentejo | 6 | 10 | 5 | 21 |
| Algarve | 2 | 6 | 3 | 11 |
| Σ | 51 | 201 | 192 | 444 |
To see the final list of units by health region, click on the respective region:
 ARS Norte |
 ARS Centro |
 ARS Lisboa e Vale do Tejo |
 ARS Alentejo |
 ARS Algarve |
Some units were classified according to their size into small (128), medium (248), large (62) or very large (6); 80, 140, 200 and 240 questionnaires were delivered to each, respectively. The total number of questionnaires delivered was then 58,800.
The questionnaires were delivered to the ACeS in regional meetings (in Porto, Coimbra, Lisbon, Évora and Faro) attended by the heads of the Regional Health Authorities (ARS), the health centers group (ACeS) and the Citizen's Offices. At these meetings, the study was presented, the collaboration of the various units was requested, and some more operational aspects were discussed and clarified
The procedure followed for the delivery of questionnaires to users and their subsequent return to CEISUC for processing, it was the outlined of a methodological note sent to all the ACeS.
Reception of the questionnaires
The rate at which the questionnaires from the functional units (FUs) arrived at CEISUC was as shown in the following table:
| Arrival Week | Number of FU | % of FU |
| January 12th to 16th, 2015 | 10 | 2,2% |
| January 19th to 23th, 2015 | 56 | 12,3% |
| January 26th to 30th, 2015 | 27 | 5,9% |
| February 2nd to 6th, 2015 | 321 | 70,50% |
| February 9th to 13th, 2015 | 16 | 3,50% |
| February 13th to 17th, 2015 | 14 | 5,60% |
| TOTAL | 444 | 100,00% |
Reading the questionnaires
A total of 49,621 questionnaires (QUEST) from 444 functional units (FUs) were read, with an overall response rate of 89.4%.
| Sent | Read | Response rate | |||
| FU | QUEST | Not delivered | QUEST | ||
| USF | 393 | 52,16 | 2,949 | 43,937 | 89,30% |
| UCSP | 51 | 6,686 | 374 | 5,684 | 90,10% |
| Total | 444 | 58,846 | 3,323 | 49,621 | 89,40% |
Final report
The final reports are accessible for both mainland Portugal and the health regions.
The remaining ACeS and unit reports are only accessible through a password sent to the respective ACeS coordinator.
The final report of the study is also available here, with background, methods, results and main conclusions. Please send any suggestions for improvement to pedrof@fe.uc.pt.