Quality of care in government family planning clinic services in Colombo District.

OBJECTIVE To assess the quality of care in government family planning clinic services in Colombo District. DESIGN Descriptive cross-sectional study. SETTINGS Government family planning clinics in the Colombo District. STUDY SAMPLE The study was conducted in 23 government family planning clinics in the Colombo District selected through stratified sampling. 593 women visiting these clinics for family planning services were interviewed and 242 client-provider interactions were observed. MEASUREMENTS Client exit interviews, observations of service delivery and clinic inventories were used as survey tools to assess the quality in preparedness of the clinics, the service delivery process and client satisfaction, as outcomes of the service. A set of indicators were identified for this purpose. RESULTS The study showed deficiencies in infrastructure, interpersonal relations, privacy, information to clients, especially on side-effects and warning signs, and in the mechanisms to ensure continuity. The majority of clients were satisfied with many aspects of the service such as the family planning method received (94.5%), confidentiality of information shared with the provider (96.1%), competency of provider (97.5%), and physical access to clinics (92.3%). However, many were dissatisfied with the physical conditions of the clinics (> 20%), information received (12.5%), opportunity given to discuss their problems with the service providers (18.8%) and waiting times (26.6%). CONCLUSIONS Government family planning clinic services need improvement through upgrading of clinic infrastructure, better planning and management of clinic services, regular training of service providers and establishing of a system to monitor service quality.