People were surveyed over their views on the health service

And 85% of those surveyed said they were positive about their first point of contact with GP surgeries.

But a quarter were dissatisfied with the ease of getting a convenient appointment with their GP and were not happy with hospital waiting times.

The assembly government said policies would become more "user focused".

The Living in Wales survey questioned 7,500 people face-to-face on their views on services such as schools, the NHS and transport.

Public Service Delivery Minister Andrew Davies pledged to listen and learn, and translate the results into the way public services in Wales are delivered in the future.

On the issue of transport, 44% of people surveyed had used their local bus services in the previous 12 months and 80% of those were satisfied overall.

Schools were also among the topics covered in the poll

Around one third of households with children aged 2-5 years were using a local authority funded nursery or playgroup, the survey showed.

The majority were satisfied although only half expressed satisfaction about their involvement in decisions about their child's nursery or playgroup.

Overall, a majority of parents expressed positive views of their experience of their child's primary school, although parents were least satisfied with the ease of getting their child to and from school.

On secondary schools, the majority of parents expressed positive views of their child's experience.

However around a quarter of parents reported that they had no opportunity to participate in decision-making on the running of their child's secondary school.

In terms of recycling, the survey found the majority of citizens (75%) had used facilities over the previous 12 months. The main reasons for not using facilities were "there was no need" (25%) or "didn't have time" (23%).

Most respondents were positive about all aspects of their local sport and leisure facilities.

The survey will help make policy more 'customer focused'

Mr Davies said there was still room for improvement and described the feedback the survey gave as a "very important part of the jigsaw by which we judge the quality of the standard that are provided by the public sector".

He said: "There's a lot to learn from this and it's very important that we do listen to what people want. There's no point saying we're providing high quality services if people don't want them or feel they're a high quality."

He said the survey allowed a breakdown of the statistics.

"Instead of looking at the people of Wales as single group, it look at breaking it down on the basis of age, for example younger people often find it very difficult to find out about services or to feel that services are not what they want."

He added that improving complaints procedures was akin to industry canvassing what customers thought of a firm's products.

Steve Thomas, chief executive of the Welsh Local Government Association said the survey showed "local government can hold its head up high in the knowledge that we are getting it right".

"Local councils play a critical role in delivering vital frontline services to thousands of people within their communities and today's survey shows that our efforts and approaches are paying off," he said.