Public Perception on Emergency Services Delivery: A Case Study of the National Ambulance Service

Abstract

Government is responsible for enacting policies that establish public agencies supposedly intended to provide services to citizens or the public. These agencies have a direct relationship with the populace as citizens serve as its major stakeholders. One of the ways of evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of these agencies is to assess public perceptions towards these agencies. The paper sought to determine the public perception towards emergency services in the country specifically with the National Ambulance Service, a public agency established to provide pre-hospital and emergency care to the citizens of Ghana. The survey was conducted with one hundred respondents who received questionnaires with each questionnaire containing a total of twenty-six (26) questions to solicit feedback and were grouped into four (4) sections. At the end of the study the researcher found that people held negative perceptions towards the National Ambulance service. Analysis of results also showed a considerable lack of knowledge about ambulance service by the populace. This calls for aggressive mass education of the public in correcting such negative perceptions. A significant relationship was also observed in the level of education of the respondents and their level of awareness of existence of the service which buttress the need for more education of the population on the knowledge and existence of the service. Findings from the survey will go a long way in guiding public administrators in taking measures improve the services provided by the agency and in doing this improve people's perceptions towards the service.