OBJECTIVES: In Greece, high-cost medicines and orphan medicines, are administered to patients, through public pharmacies, which belong to National Organization for the Provision of Healthcare Services (EOPYY). The Pharmacies of EOPYY have been operating since 2012, and are an integral part of the organization, serving approximately 95% of population of Greece. The aim of this research study is to investigate patients’ satisfaction from these pharmacies and to highlight the factors that could be optimized during this service, because patients’ satisfaction is considered as a very important indicator for determining the quality of health services provided.

METHODS: The basic tool for this study was PSPSQ 2.0 questionnaire. All scales used, were 5-point Likert, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Most of EOPYY’s patients are served by the pharmacies of the prefecture of Attica, so we have chosen them, as source of questionnaires gathering. We collected 201 questionnaires from October 2022 to January 2023. The participation was optional. The response rate was 20%. The survey was extended to those authorized by the patients to collect their medications, because many of them are unable to move, due to the severity of their health condition.

RESULTS: From the analysis of the questionnaires, it emerged that in general, the patients were satisfied with the pharmacies. In fact, the pharmacists’ professionalism, the respect that patients received from them, and the information and explanations which were given, received a very high score. Furthermore, patients were satisfied with the waiting time. On the other hand, the factor, recommendations given for the overall improvement of patients’ health, had the lowest score.

CONCLUSIONS: According to our findings patients are satisfied with these pharmacies and in almost all responses the positive opinion prevails over the negative or neutral attitude, and COVID-19 pandemic did not have a negative effect on patients’ satisfaction.