Patient evaluation of service quality in government homeopathic hospitals in West Bengal, India: a cross‐sectional survey

Background Service quality ( SQ ) is the perceived difference between expectation and performance along the quality dimensions. It is central to the process of continuous quality improvement; however, SQ has rarely been studied in homeopathic hospital settings. Objective To examine the quality of service provided by four government homeopathic hospitals in W est B engal, I ndia. Methods In this cross‐sectional survey, 644 patients from a systematically selected sample were invited to complete a modified B engali SERVQUAL instrument (a quality management framework comprising 22 items with four‐point Likert scale response sets descending from 4=strongly agree to 1=strongly disagree). The SQ expectation and perception scores were generated across five dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance and tangibles. Service‐quality gaps were then analysed. Results Mean differences between patient perceptions and expectations of SQ revealed statistically significant gaps ( P <0.0001) across all five dimensions and all 22 individual items of the survey. Multiple regression found residence significantly ( P <0.001) influenced perceived quality gaps. The questionnaire used in this study showed promising psychometrics, including acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ≥ 0.6) and item‐corrected total correlations ( ICC ; Pearson's r >0.3). Conclusion The services patients received at various homeopathic hospitals in W est B engal, I ndia, did not meet patient expectations across the five domains of SERVQUAL . This gap needs to be addressed through focused improvement efforts.