Purpose - Purpose - To study how changing information routines might influence patients’ service quality perceptions. A secondary aim was to test an instrument’s everyday feasibility for healthcare quality assessment.

Design/methodology/approach - Patients often show high grade satisfaction with general care although they display dissatisfaction with information they receive. A questionnaire survey is used to establish pa-tients’ satisfaction with an intervention consisting of introducing standardized guidelines for nursing performance and information provision. Patient satisfaction was assessed through a standardized questionnaire: ‘Quality from the Patient’s Perspective’ (QPP). A cross sectional interventional survey was applied to patients from gynaecological and haematological wards (n=71). A comparison group was used (n=67). Patients were given the questionnaire when their diagnosis was confirmed, after six months and 12 months. Data were collected succes-sively over 36-months.

Findings - Findings - The study group showed an increased satisfaction with information from nurses (p=0.001) but not physicians. However, patients tended to put greater emphasis on socio-cultural issues than information and some kind of cooperation seemed to represent high qual-ity from the patient’s perspective.

Research limitations/implications - Limitations – Successively lower response rate, mainly owing to cancer patients’ deteriorating medical conditions.

Practical implications - Implications for research, practice and/or society –The study seems to verify the concor-dance model’s relative merits and that the softer side of care appears to be more important to patients than specific improvements regarding information

Originality/value - Value - Result confirm that patients’ satisfaction with information had implications for overall quality; but social issues seemed more important and enhancing quality is best achieved through participation and cooperation.