[Recommendations for making quality improvements in administration within local authorities].
OBJECTIVE
To ascertain the methods and issues of industrial administration, that have been systematically chosen by the health and welfare administration in the Iwate Prefectural Government, in order to increase public customer satisfaction.


METHODS
Combined use of TQM and marketing is thought to be the most effective way to increase public customer satisfaction with limited resources. This method secures a quality administrative service capable of corresponding to public needs, by improvement of processes and resources. Therefore we made use of both TQM and marketing.


RESULTS
According to a customer satisfaction survey conducted by Iwate Prefectural Government in May 2001 (mail survey, sent to 234 people, response rate of 88.9%), public customer satisfaction had increased compared to the previous year in the following areas: provision for the elderly, the declining birthrate, disabled persons and universal design. Also, in a policy evaluation conducted during the same year, 207 services were revised and 30 were temporarily closed, abolished or reduced, 20 were merged, and 23 were expanded.


CONCLUSIONS
We cannot sufficiently evaluate the effectiveness of the methods yet because they were only just introduced. However, development of the plan and policy evaluation appear to have been quite effective. From now on we will continue to improve our methods, especially to increase the quality of our administrative resources.
Sekiyama
Masahito
M
D003258:Consumer Behavior; D006298:Health Services Administration / Q000592:standards*; D007564:Japan; D009111:Local Government; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D017749:Total Quality Management