At least 12,000 complaints were made about aspects of hospital care to some 34 hospitals across the State over the last five years, new research shows.
The study, carried out for the Medical Council and published yesterday, found that over 15 per cent (1,394) of the complaints were made about doctors.
Smaller hospitals received a higher proportion of complaints about doctors. Some 25 per cent of their complaints were about doctors, compared to 18 per cent in general hospitals and 10 per cent in large-supra regional hospitals.
The research, carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, says the reasons for this pattern are unclear.
"It may be that it is easier for patients to complain in smaller hospitals or for smaller hospitals to monitor and record complaints," it said.
Hospitals predominantly used their own complaints procedures to deal with complaints about doctors. They rarely referred complaints to the Medical Council, the report said.
Overall 51 per cent of the complaints about doctors were in relation to clinical care, 47 per cent were about communication and 2 per cent were about unprofessional behaviour.
"The finding that the quantity of complaints about communication issues almost equalled those about clinical care may cause some concern," the report added.
In 27 hospitals where 1,394 complaints which had been made were categorised, some 295 of them alleged doctors were inconsiderate or rude while a similar number alleged misdiagnosis or lack of a diagnosis.
The report, Managing Complaints About Doctors: Stakeholder Perspectives of the Role of the Medical Council in Ireland, does not state if the complaints made were ever substantiated.
Apart from surveying hospitals, the researchers also ascertained the views about the Medical Council and doctors in general from 250 members of the public through telephone interviews, from 74 people who had actually made complaints in the past to the Medical Council and from 117 doctors who had been complained about to the council.
In the telephone survey 25 per cent of the public said they had a reason to be dissatisfied with a doctor over the last five years.
Their reasons varied: some 36 per cent cited cost or lack of availability, 30 per cent referred to poor interpersonal and communication skills, 27 per cent cited clinical care issues, 4 per cent said they were dissatisfied because a doctor was not up to date and 2 per cent were dissatisfied because of loss of files and breach of confidentiality.
The research found just 16 per cent of those who experienced dissatisfaction with a doctor made a complaint. Not knowing who to complain to, how to complain or feeling that there was no point, were the most common reasons for not making a complaint.
Some 45 per cent of the public had never heard of the Medical Council, the research found.
Asked about the regulation of the medical profession, 45 per cent of the public supported self-regulation and 42 per cent supported State regulation with equal numbers of doctors and members of the public on the council.
Of those who made complaints to the Medical Council about a doctor, some 81 per cent were dissatisfied with the outcome. Over half said the reason a decision was made not to hold an inquiry into a doctor was not explained.
Two-thirds of those who had made complaints viewed the idea of holding fitness to practise inquiries in public as problematic. Some 31 per cent said they should be in public.
Most doctors on the other hand against whom complaints were made to the council were satisfied with the outcome.
The research is the first of its type in the Republic, and the Medical Council hopes its findings will feed into a planned new Medical Practitioners Act.
Minister for Health Mary Harney, who launched the report, said the new legislation was going to Government in January and would be law by next Easter.