Maternal satisfaction with primary health care.

Maternal reactions to child health care services were examined for 1143 Christchurch children during the period birth to three years. The majority of mothers were well satisfied with the service provided by their family doctor. Over half the mothers who reported problems with their family doctor did so because of perceived inadequacies in the doctor's management and treatment. Dissatisfaction with the doctor did not vary with maternal social background. Mothers were less satisfied with the Plunket nurse, with 25 percent feeling neutral or dissatisfied. Major areas of conflict between mothers and Plunket nurses concerned feeding regimes and weight gains. Dissatisfaction with the Plunket nurse was most common amongst young mothers and single mothers. While 24 percent of mothers would have liked some reduction in medical consultation fees for children, by a small majority mothers were opposed to or neutral about free medical consultations for children. A large majority of mothers favoured some form of compulsory system of routine child health care.