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The purpose of this paper is to assess the patient’s perspective on a dedicated clinic set up for patients diagnosed with an inflammatory arthritis who are being treated with a biologic. It proposes that dedicated clinics offer better overall care. The aim of this quality improvement survey is to evaluate the level of patient satisfaction with this clinic and identify any unmet needs.

This study was based on a quality improvement survey, which was developed using Zineldin’s five qualities model and assessed various aspects pertaining to service quality and improvement. A structured interview approach was used and 44 consecutive patients were recruited.

This paper explores key aspects that influence patient satisfaction within a rheumatology outpatient setting such as education on arthritis and biologics and involvement in decision making. It provides insight on what patients value most and it also addresses organizational aspects that can have an impact on patient satisfaction. It suggests that service quality can be linked to the degree of patient satisfaction.

Direct interviewing of patients could have introduced a source of bias whilst questions are being answered. On the other hand, it provided an opportunity to clarify instantly any doubts and therefore avoiding any inadvertent errors.

This paper reinforces that specialized clinics enable the caring rheumatologist to provide better care for patients on biologics. Service providers should continue developing their services around the patient’s needs and perspectives in order to continue improving the service.

Dedicated biologic clinics allow more judicious monitoring of patients who are taking these highly efficacious but costly medications.

This survey has reinforced that patients highly value dedicated clinics. These results strengthen the case that healthcare services should continue investing on specialized clinics.

This paper assesses the patients' healthcare information needs and expectations when they attend a rheumatology outpatient clinic. It proposes that obtaining the patients' perspectives about the services they use is an essential service-development tool. The aim of this paper is to expand the current domains used to evaluate these perspectives.

This paper is an exploratory study, looking at quality assessment and improvement based on Donabedian's quality model in a rheumatology outpatient setting. A structured interview schedule addressing care pathways was used and 70 consecutive patients were recruited.

The article provides insights about how relevant change can be brought about when service development is contemplated. It suggests that patients are important stakeholders in the ongoing service development process.

Because rheumatological conditions tend to be chronic and require long-term follow-up, the results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test propositions in different clinical settings.

The article highlights healthcare delivery areas that are not meeting patient expectations. Some recommendations (such as informing waiting patients regularly about any delays) require minimal additional resources for successful implementation. Service providers need to obtain the patients' healthcare perspectives to ensure that services are built around their needs.

This article fulfils an identified need to study how patients perceive service quality.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study on the development of the cultural heritage sector on the island of Gozo in the Maltese archipelago. The studying of these relationships is very important to maximise the impact of the cultural heritage sector on tourism. The importance of the development of cultural tourism as a specific niche has been consistently recognised (Boissevain, 1994; Ministry for Tourism and Culture, 2007; Ministry for Tourism Culture and the Environment, 2016; Ministry for Tourism, 2014).

A case study methodology is adopted. The findings have been sourced mainly through secondary data such as official publications and materials available publicly, and through the author’s in-depth knowledge of the socio-cultural context of Gozo.

The paper’s main outcome is that the success of the cultural heritage sector in Gozo can be attributed to the close collaboration that exists between the Ministry for Gozo (responsible for Gozitan affairs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). While a culture of mistrust towards state institutions is generally prevalent among Gozitans (Azzopardi, 2015), the level of collaboration between the Ministry for Gozo and NGOs, may tend to show that Gozitans are more keen to trust state institutions run by the same Gozitans.

This paper analyses the underlying relationships in the cultural heritage sector on the island of Gozo. This is very important to continue building up on this niche as an added value to the tourism sector in Gozo.