Complaints over health service increase by over 50%

Patient dissatisfaction with the health service has soared, with almost 20,000 complaints made about the Health Service Executive or voluntary hospitals last year.

Complaints were lodged at a rate of almost 400 a week, up over 50 per cent on 2013, according to the 2014 annual report of the HSE.

Patients dissatisfied with the investigation of their complaint requested a review on 216 occasions in 2014, a slight increase on the previous year.

According to the report, some 8,375 complaints were made last year about HSE services, an increase of 23 per cent. Less than seven out of 10 were dealt with in the target time of 30 days.

The main areas of grievance related to poor communication and information (3,517 complaints), safe and effective care (2,520) and access to services (2,130).

Complaints about voluntary hospitals virtually doubled, to 10,752. The vast majority were dealt with within 30 days. The figure included 3,032 complaints about safe and effective care, 2,979 about communication and information and 2,838 in relation to access.

Another 399 complaints were handled under the disability Acts in relation to children’s assessment of need for services.

Compliments

The report says 6,179 “compliments” were recorded in relation to HSE services, and 12,639 in relation to voluntary hospitals. It says, these numbers notwithstanding, most compliments go unrecorded.

Separately, the HSE has suggested one in 10 patients can expect to experience an adverse event while in hospital. It says it is currently conducting 480 investigations and reviews into safety incidents in the health service. This includes 293 in the acute hospital sector and 130 in mental health services.

“Each year, the HSE has millions of individual contacts with patients and service users. In a proportion of these interactions, things go wrong and it is incumbent on service managers and staff that we learn from what has happened,” the HSE said in a letter to the Oireachtas health committee.

Safety incidents occur in health systems throughout the developed world, it said, with over 10 per cent of patients in the UK experiencing an adverse event while in hospital.

“This figure is comparable to other studies around the world,” the HSE said.

The increase in complaints coincides with a period of intense focus on the safety in the health service, most notably in smaller maternity units including Portlaoise hospital, and services for the intellectually disabled, including Áras Attracta in Swinford, Co Mayo.

Investigation team

HSE director general

Tony O'Brien

yesterday appointed a three-person investigation team comprising experts from the UK to examine management and clinical failures at Portlaoise, where substandard care resulted in five baby deaths in recent years.

Separately, six people appeared in court for allegedly assaulting patients in the Áras Attracta facility.

The State Claims Agency, which handles litigation arising from medical negligence, says 67 "extreme incidents" leading to permanent incapacity or death were recorded in maternity hospitals last year.

It released the figures to RTÉ. Prime Time on Thursday highlighted three cases of alleged medical misadventure. It claimed reviews were initiated in the cases only after formal complaints or threats of legal action were made.