45% of Australian customers will change health care provider based on bathroom hygiene

With health and hygiene ranking high on most people's agenda, we ran a survey* to gauge preferences and feelings around cleanliness and hygiene when attending a healthcare service e.g. Medical Centre, Doctor's Surgery or Dentist.

Here's are the results:

Firstly, the top 3 areas that people consider important when it comes to cleanliness and hygiene are the Surgery or Practice area, the Reception area and the Bathroom.

Wondering whether people really cared, we asked about the importance of being able to wash one's hands without being forced to touch anything. While it wasn't important to everyone, almost 60% felt it was Important or Very Important.

There was also a strong correlation between how frequently someone visited their Doctor, Dentist, Hospital etc and the importance of a touch-free handwashing experience. E.g., the Important or Very Important rating increased to:

• 69.5% for those that visit a healthcare service more 2-3 or more times a year
• 71.3% for 4 or more visits per year.

We foresee a trend towards a completely touch free design starting with turn-around corner entry and exits (removes the need for a door) all the way to sensor taps.

Customers Are Willing to Vote with Their Wallets

45% of respondents also indicated that they would be Likely or Extremely likely to consider changing their health care provider (Doctor, Dentist, Medical Clinic etc), if the cleanliness or hygiene of their bathroom was unsatisfactory.

This increased to over 51% for those who visited a hospital, medical centre or other health care service at least once per year.

Over 50% of females indicated they were Likely or Extremely likely to consider changing their health care provider regardless of visit frequency, if the cleanliness or hygiene of their bathroom was unsatisfactory.

Can Sensor Taps Play a Role in Increasing confidence of hygiene and encouraging more/better handwashing?

When shown an image of a traditional tap and a sensor tap, 86% felt the sensor tap would give them more confidence of hygiene in a Doctor or Dentist bathroom. This increased to over 88% for those who visited a hospital, medical centre or other health care service at least once per year.

Over 92.5% of females with at least 1 annual healthcare visit, felt the sensor tap would give them more confidence of hygiene.

Along the same theme, 61.2% of respondents felt that a touch-free handwashing experience (e.g., Sensor Taps) would encourage more/better handwashing at a Doctor's surgery or dentists bathroom. The data shows that the sentiment increases proportionately to the frequency of visits. Notably 71.3% of females with at least 1 annual healthcare visit felt sensor taps and a touch-free handwashing experience would encourage more/better handwashing.

With bathroom design and hygiene becoming increasingly important and customers saying that a sensor tap would encourage more/better handwashing and more confidence of hygiene, perhaps now is the time to invest in a sensor tap (available in both basin mounted and wall mounted options).  

*Source: Google Surveys (10th Sep21 - 10th Oct21) - Contact onvanti.com.au for full survey results, detailed data and supporting documentation.