MORE THAN 9,000 complaints were made to the Health Service Executive (HSE) and its funded hospitals and agencies last year, according to the organisation’s latest annual report.
Over 3,000 of these complaints were in relation to treatment/service delivery, while another 1,000 were in relation to delays/waiting times and a further 1,000 about staff attitude/manner. The remainder were about communication issues, cancellations, hospital food, clinical judgment and infection control.
Of the 9,086 complaints lodged some 4,891 were lodged directly to the HSE, up from 4,376 the previous year. The remainder were made to the voluntary hospitals and agencies funded by the HSE.
Meanwhile, the level of complaints to the organisation is continuing to rise this year. Data in the HSE’s latest monthly performance report shows it received 2,009 complaints in the first three months of this year, more than double the number it had received over the same period in 2008.
Prof Brendan Drumm, the HSE’s chief executive, said the number of complaints overall was small compared to the huge numbers of patients being dealt with. He encouraged people who had complaints to come forward.
The HSE’s 2008 annual report also shows its hospitals saw 35,000 more patients as inpatients and day cases last year than in 2007. They also dealt with more than 73,000 births.
But Prof Drumm said there were still often unacceptable waiting times for outpatient appointments and reducing these waiting times was now a major priority for the HSE. The report also shows the numbers qualifying for medical cards and GP visit cards increased by 6 per cent and 13 per cent respectively last year, a reflection of the growing numbers losing their jobs.
Prof Drumm defended the €15 million spent by the HSE on outside consultants last year, saying this was just 0.1 per cent of the HSE’s overall budget.
Meanwhile, in relation to the 800-plus patients occupying beds in the acute hospitals whose discharge to other facilities has been delayed, Prof Drumm said it was coming to the point where the HSE should look at closing these beds and using the money instead to provide services for these patients in the community. “It is an area we are going to have to look at much more carefully as we face more economic challenges going into the next couple of years,” he said.