Health Services Commissioner Annual Report 2000/2001

A focus group of six CLOs was also conducted on a range of issues around the
handling and resolution of complaints.
Complaint Liaison Officer was a designated specialist role in 78% of metropolitan
hospitals but only 10% of regional hospitals had a specialist role. Most were female
(70%) and aged between 40 – 59 (77%). The median length of time in the CLO
position was under 2 years. Complaint staff had little in common on skills,
background, or qualifications, but 86% had a tertiary qualification, not specific to
their role in a diverse range of fields. While 63% of complaint liaison officers had
undertaken some training in complaint management, this was principally related to 1 -
3 days orientation provided on initial appointment. Only 46% of CLOs specified a
particular model of complaint management with most of these (78%) being from
metropolitan hospitals. Specialist CLOs were significantly more likely to be members
of a peak body. Where there was a specialist complaints management role, complaint
issues categories relating to access to care were significantly higher but treatment
issues were lower. There were also significantly more complaints received and
recorded in hospitals with a specialist CLO than those without.
In the focus group discussion CLOs reported often feeling under prepared for the
range of tasks required, inadequate training opportunities and a lack of organisational
and senior management support. Stress and “burn out” were issues of concern and
61% had access to internal debriefing services. Given the sensitivity of the issues
handled and staff involvement it was surprising that access to external debriefing was
the exception. The CLOs indicated the data generated was under-utilized by the
organisation and often devalued as a quality indicator. While there was consensus in
the group on the need for better training, there was little agreement on the priorities or
what was the most appropriate type of training with the exception of counselling
skills.
This study highlighted some of the differences in approach to complaint management
and suggests that many hospitals consider patient complaints a low priority. The
diversity in the qualifications and seniority of CLOs, and in their education, training
and skills, levels of autonomy, and degree of involvement in organisational quality
processes, demonstrated the different models or frameworks used by hospitals to
manage patient complaints. The lack of supporting evidence of the effectiveness of
the different models would suggest that much more research is required. In an era of
evidence-based medicine, it seems reasonable to require practice not to be just based
on available evidence but also to seek to establish such evidence through rigorous
research.
UNREGISTERED PROVIDERS
Last year the HSC was involved in a court case, R v Patterson. This dealt with the
issue of an unregistered provider being charged with sexual offences under s51 of the
Crimes Act 1958. The provider was subsequently acquitted. When the HSC is
dealing with registered practitioners, and matters of sexual misconduct arise, these can
be referred to the relevant medical registration board for formal inquiry and
investigation. There are no boards available to deal with complaints about
unregistered providers. In Victoria it is possible for a person to be deregistered for
professional misconduct but to subsequently practice as a counsellor or even
Health Services Commissioner Annual Report 2000/2001 21