Health Services Commissioner Annual Report 2000/2001

REASONS FOR COMPLAINTS
Complaints received by the Commissioner are classified according to their underlying
issues. The broad categories are as follows:
Access
Treatment
refers to availability of services in terms of location, waiting
times and other constraints that limit use of the service;
refers to diagnosis, testing, medication and other therapies
provided;
Communication
Cost
Rights
Administration
refers to manner of communication such as rudeness,
disinterest, quality and quantity of information provided about
treatment, risks and outcomes and prognosis;
refers to information about costs and fees, discrepancies
between advertised and actual costs, charges and rebates;
refers to rights to privacy and dignity, consent to treatment,
reasonable access to records; and
refers to support services for providers such as reception,
waiting lists, cleaning services, etc.
Most complaints identify only one of these as an issue but approximately one in three
raises concerns about more than one issue. Please note that in 114 complaints an issue
was not specified.
Primary issues in complaints 2000/2001
While the most frequently nominated issue was treatment nearly all complaints also
include failures of communication. This year complaints about treatment accounted
for 57% of all complaints, a total of 1583 compared with 1356 complaints in
1999/2000. Inadequate treatment complaints featured most prominently.
Table 9. Treatment
Treatment 57%
Inadequate diagnosis 191
Inadequate treatment 585
Medication 149
Negligent treatment 285
Other 72
Rough treatment 57
Health Services Commissioner Annual Report 2000/2001 35