Patient complaints in Finland 2000–2004: a retrospective register study

Abstract

Today, monitoring of patient complaints in healthcare services is being used as a tool for quality assurance systems and in the future development of services. This nationwide register study describes the number of all complaints processed, number of complaints between different state provinces, healthcare services and healthcare professionals, and outcomes of complaints in Finland during the period 2000-2004. All complaints processed at the State Provincial Offices and the National Authority for Medicolegal Affairs were analysed by statistical methods. Complaints about mental healthcare were explored in greater detail. The analysis showed that the number of patient complaints increased considerably during the study period. There were changes in the number of complaints between study years in different provinces. Out of different healthcare services, an especially marked increase was seen in private healthcare. Nearly all complaints were lodged against physicians, and over half of the complaints were made because of medical error. In mental health care, patients more often complained about unsatisfactory certificates and statements and the use of compulsory hospital care. An analysis of the outcomes revealed that in mental health care complaints more seldom led to consequences. The results need to be utilised when planning interventions for advanced supervision, prevention of adverse events and patient safety in healthcare, and especially in mental health care. From the patients' perspective, it is important to create a culture where most problem situations are handled where the treatment was provided, thus avoiding a complex complaints process.

Poor professionalism identified through investigation of unsolicited healthcare complaints

“…In our study, the majority of complaints were about physicians and one-fifth concerned other healthcare staff. The general literature on complaint analysis includes reports of similar findings, such as those of a nationwide Finnish study,36 but an Australian study of complaints lodged with the Office of Patient and Family Relations found that 78% of complaints were not about physicians 28. This notable difference with our results may be, at least partly, due to the fact that complaints filed at the Patient Information Centre and the Complaints Officer's Office were not included in our analysis.…”

Evaluation of patient rights practices in a developing country: the Edirne model for the implementation of patient rights in Turkey

“…When the results of the current study were compared with Turkey's data in 2008, it was concluded that the violation rate in Turkey was 18%, whereas it was 19.8% and slightly above the average in Edirne. In a retrospective review of the records between 2000 and 2004 in Finland, despite the use of a different system, an increasing trend of patient complaints was reported 26. The reported increase in the rates of written complaints in the present study could be a relative increase as a result of the establishment of new units.…”

Key strategies to improve systems for managing patient complaints within health facilities – what can we learn from the existing literature?

“…Centralised identification of issues arising from complaints at the individual, unit, procedural or organisational levels [64] can help to plan appropriate interventions [3,7,64,103–107]. However, complaints should ideally be dealt with locally, to ensure speedy and timely responses and avoid complex response processes [105]. …”