Healthcare is a service industry

A well-informed friend recently went to a highly reputable clinic for an elective dermatology procedure. She had done her due diligence — reviewed treatments, understood risks and, most importantly, considered the clinician’s strong clinical qualifications. On paper, it looked like excellence.

What she experienced told a very different story.

On the day of the procedure, she was led to a treatment room of the well-appointed suites with minimal introduction from the practice team member — no name, no role, no human connection. The medications she’d been asked to collect beforehand were only checked because she raised the question. Post-procedure instructions were delivered as sedation was taking effect, and all she received as a reference source was a photocopied sheet of generic “red flags.” Clarification was her initiative, not the practice’s.

She was ushered through her care as if she were a transaction, not a person.

When recovery didn’t go as planned and it became clear a medication was missing, the detailed website offered no after-hours support. No emergency contact. No clinical guidance. The listed number simply routed to an answering service that directed her to present to an already overwhelmed Emergency Department. The ‘red-flag’ sheet was long lost in post-procedure pain and confusion. A follow-up that should have happened on Day 3 didn’t take place until Day 4 because the clinic was closed over the weekend.

Then came the response to her feedback.

At her next appointment — in pain, feeling isolated and distressed — she calmly relayed her experience. The team offered a brief apology and… another paper with after-hours instructions, before rushing her into a consultation. Subsequent interaction with the front office was awkward and avoidant with no connection.

The questions that followed weren’t about clinical competence — they were about safety, presence and respect:

“Am I safe?”
“Am I seen?”
“Would I recommend this practice to others?”

Healthcare quality is reflected in the consumer care experience

As Maya Angelou famously observed “... people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Imagine being welcomed into a fine dining restaurant where the team knows your name, remembers what matters to you, and makes you feel like the only table in the room. The team, proficient in their specialised knowledge, guides you through each course with calm, clear explanations, checking in at the right moments without interrupting your experience. You’re comfortable, cared for, and never left guessing. You leave feeling deeply satisfied and genuinely valued, confident you were in expert hands from start to finish. In tourism and hospitality, exceptional customer service is a baseline consumer expectation.

In today’s healthcare and dental markets, clinical reputation alone is no longer sufficient to secure long-term sustainability. Patients and consumers increasingly choose providers based not just on clinical skill, but on how they feel throughout the care journey.

This isn’t sentiment. It’s measurable.

Patient experience is defined as the sum of all interactions shaped by an organisation’s culture across the care continuum.¹ Research consistently shows that patient experience has measurable impacts on satisfaction, loyalty and future behaviour— outcomes that directly influence practice viability and competitive strength. In Australia, the highest markers of positive experiences in healthcare are being listened to carefully, shown respect, and having enough time spent with them.²

So when we talk about “experience excellence” in healthcare, we’re not talking about adding luxury touches.

We’re talking about designing a care journey that protects safety perceptions, strengthens confidence, and makes it easy for a patient to choose you again.

Why experience quality drives loyalty (and why it’s a performance metric)

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, a gold-standard instrument for measuring patient perceptions of care quality, captures the core dimensions of what patients experience during the care journey. Based on 2.2 million completed surveys from patients between July 2023 and June 2024, nurse communication and care transition quality are key indicators of patient satisfaction and their likelihood to recommend (LTR) to others.³ The strongest predictors of overall satisfaction are core service dimensions of care.

Press Ganey’s 2025 analysis (10.5 million patient encounters across settings) adds the loyalty lens through “Likelihood to Recommend” (LTR).⁴The relationship between perceived safety and loyalty is dramatic: when patients rate safety as “very good” (top-box), LTR sits in the 92nd percentile; anything less collapses LTR below the 1st percentile.⁴

There is no “middle ground” for safety perception. Service failures that create uncertainty — unclear instructions, absent after-hours support, inconsistent follow-up — don’t just annoy patients. They collapse loyalty.

And in dentistry, research using an extended SERVQUAL model found empathy (an atmosphere of understanding and responsiveness) is a significant positive predictor of patients’ intention to revisit.⁵

The business implication is direct: communication, transition quality, and perceived responsiveness don’t sit beside clinical quality — they amplify it or undermine it.

Where to from here?

Take time to consider how your patients experience care in your practice — not just what you intend, but what is consistently delivered.

Reflect on your practice’s patient care journey with clear questions:

• Are patients greeted with clarity and respect?

• Does every team member understand their role in the care experience?

• How do you operationalise empathy — what does it look like in your setting?

• What feedback mechanisms are in place — and how are they acted upon?

• If something goes wrong, is service recovery designed… or improvised?
  

Clinical competence matters. But experience excellence magnifies clinical excellence into sustainable performance.

Because in healthcare, service isn’t separate from care — it is care.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Yours in healthcare excellence,