Beyond excellence in service, clients in the survey were overwhelmingly appreciative of the respect with which they were treated by DSHS employees. Eighty-nine percent described staff as courteous and respectful; 87 percent said staff listen and understand.

"I am very pleased with the high level of overall client satisfaction documented by the survey," said DSHS Secretary Susan N. Dreyfus. "It is especially rewarding to see how closely the values held by Washington residents who use our services align with align with the values our employees hold. In independent surveys, Washington residents we serve and our employees show they share the same values: excellent service, respect, accountability, diversity and working in partnerships."

The 2009 Client Survey: DSHS Clients Speak, the sixth in a series of DSHS-wide client surveys initiated in 2001, was conducted among 1,217 clients, who were interviewed by telephone between October 2008 and April 2009. The clients were randomly selected from DSHS programs and were asked about all DSHS services they used.

Interviewers managed to reach 84 percent of the randomly chosen clients and those asked to participate agreed to do so at a remarkably high rate of 96 percent.

Clients took part in phone interviews from such disparate locations as jail, Brazil and the hospital.

The survey is conducted by the Department's Research and Data Analysis Survey Team, independent of any of the DSHS programs. Department leadership and program staff never know the identity of the clients surveyed. Clients are assured that survey participation is voluntary and are informed that "whether or not you participate in the survey will not affect any services you may receive from DSHS…no one from the DSHS programs that serve you will know how you answered." And while clients' volunteered comments are captured, reports and analysis of the survey do not include client names.

If the comments offered by some of those surveyed are any indication, unhappy clients are not reluctant to criticize the services they seek or the people who provide them.

And the survey did show some levels of dissatisfaction. Historically tough economic times have increased the numbers of clients seeking services, many of them for the first time. One result was increased complaints that it was difficult to obtain economic and medical services in a timely manner.

Another likely symptom of a difficult economy was a notable decrease in the service approval rating among non-custodial parents required to pay child support.

"Of course, the objective of the survey is not just to measure how well clients say we're doing, but to look for ways to improve the way we do things," said DSHS Planning, Performance and Accountability Senior Director Jody Becker-Green. "We use our client's feedback to measure whether services improve in the future."

One example was the DSHS Children's Administration's initiatives to increase family involvement resulted in a 40 percent increase in the number of clients who said they get to help make plans and goals about the child welfare services in which they are involved.

The Department's Aging and Disability Services Administration's customer service initiatives resulted in 22 percent more clients saying it is easy to get services and 20 percent more saying service was timely.

Thirty-three percent more Division of Vocational Rehabilitation clients said it is easy to get services after the Division eliminated its waiting list.

The 2009 DSHS Client Survey is available online here.