Wherever possible, the clinical nurse specialists should be identified to women.In addition, it is recommended that nursing teams should review the results of the patient satisfaction survey, and in particular, comments that were made about their specific service. Any pertinent comments should be discussed locally.One limitation of this patient satisfaction survey was that the data collected were quantitative
and did not include any qualitative information. However, the use of quantitative data has enabled the Quality Assurance Reference Centre to benchmark what is acceptable and work towards the development of regional expected levels of service and quality in the absence of official standards. The survey has allowed services
with problem areas to be highlighted and the Quality Assurance Reference Centre can work with these services to obtain qualitative data to improve service delivery. Focus group interviews could be held, as these would better capture detailed information on women’s feelings (Local Government Improvement and Development 2011).
Another limitation of the study is the bias of respondents (Groves 1987). It could be that non-responders had a bad experience of the service. The survey was anonymous, so following up the non-responders was not possible. Discussions in the West Midlands have centred on how the survey is distributed by each of the nursing teams and how this may affect a woman’s inclination to complete and return it. Following these discussions, it was decided to use a variety of distribution methods, as no single method is suitable for all.