Patient experience is seen as a fundamental measure for healthcare evaluation, which fuels the debate regarding the most relevant factors influencing patient experience. Limited empirical knowledge exists concerning the factors that influence patient experience from the users’ perspective in South Africa. This study addresses the research gap by determining the factors influencing patient experience among primary healthcare users in Waterloo, Grove-End and Stonebridge communities in the eThekwini Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal. The study is quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional, and utilises a self-administered questionnaire that was distributed among 280 primary healthcare users. They strongly agreed (> 90%) that all the factors presented in the study are contributors to their patient experience. The factor analysis determined the relevance of the factors as perceived by the respondents. It was found that the doctor’s role (0.970), clinic cleanliness (0.943), coordination and continuity of care (0.943), and waiting time (0.914) are the most significant influencers of patient experience. Education (0.898), nurses (0.882), medication (0.854) and the quality of care (0.853) serve as moderate influencers. Access (0.745), family/friend involvement (0.722) and the physical state of the infrastructure (0.714) are mild influencers of patient experience. Patient-centred care (0.639), management effectiveness (0.637), communication (0.596) and information (0.443) were non-influencers of patient experience. User experience is multifaceted and each factor represents a varying level of influence. It is recommended that a patient-experience framework should be developed that can be linked to improvement initiatives within South Africa in an effort to support quality improvement.

This study was conducted to evaluate Patient Experience in primary health clinics in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). A quantitative study approach included 280 participants. The descriptive cross sectional study utilised a self-administered questionnaire as the research instrument, which was distributed to the target population of primary health care (PHC) users. The overall Patient Experience-Satisfaction showed that more than half of the respondents were not satisfied with the current Patient Experience in the primary health clinic. There was a significant association with age and the overall Patient Experience-Satisfaction (p<0.05). Older patients indicate a favourable Patient Experience when compared to younger patients, who are more critical of the Patient Experience elicited in primary health clinics. The results showed that gender did not significantly affect the overall Patient Experience-Satisfaction (p=0.957). Race significantly affected Patient Experience (p value = 0.011) with black respondents having a significantly lower mean rank of Patient Experience when compared to Indian respondents. There was an overall negative perception toward the Patient Experience elicited in users. There is an urgent need to review the service delivery of clinics. The need for a Patient Experience Model is highlighted for the health sector in South Africa.