As part of our ongoing program evaluation, CHIRS conducts regular client and family satisfaction surveys. The purpose of the survey is to check in with our clients and their families, in order to gauge their current level of satisfaction with our services and to provide them with a formal opportunity to give their feedback and suggestions.

• Surveys were disturbed to 166 family members/caregivers and 214 clients (total of 380)
• A total of 226 respondents completed the survey, 83 family members/caregivers and 143 clients, giving us an overall response rate of 60% (up from 52% response rate in 2014).
• The rate of response among clients was 67% (up from 65% in 2014) and 50% among family members (significantly up from 38% in 2014).

Where to from here?
The client satisfaction survey continues to illustrate that clients and families are highly satisfied with CHIRS services. The average satisfaction rating, on a scale of 1-10, remained high (between 8.4 and 8.9) and relatively unchanged for both clients and families, despite an increase in the total number of respondents.  Families and clients clearly communicated that they are grateful for CHIRS services and most concerns centred around wanting more. The comments also highlighted that clients feel very supported and feel that they belong here.

It was encouraging to note that people are seeing an improvement with the nutritional quality of the mealsbeing offered. This was something highlighted as a need in previous surveys and it illustrates the value that these surveys can have on program improvement.

There were some specific themes noted in the recommendations for improvement (i.e. better communication and suggested activity and program changes) on which staff can continue to work. Other recommendations, such as additional programs in different locations and an increase in support hours, are perhaps longer term initiatives and/or require additional funding; these will certainly be considered in
future planning.