This study is aimed at assessing health care quality within the St. Eugenio Emergency Unit in Rome. The survey covers the months of March, June and November 2000. Patients were given about 9 thousand forms to fill before and after their access. Only 4% of them got to the hospital by ambulance and as many as 85% were immediately discharged after the exam. Their expectations were centred primarily on the health staff's professional skills, whereas their retroactive judgment focused on the poor quality of support services (parking lots, directional signs, waiting time), thus neglecting the very professional skills they previously considered as a priority.