HSE receives more than 9,000 complaints in 2008

The Health Service Executive (HSE) received over 9,000 complaints from patients last year.

These are the findings of its 2008 annual report, where over half of the complaints (4,891) were relating to the HSE itself; up from 4,376 in 2007. The remainder (4,195 complaints) were made in relation to services provided by its funded hospitals and agencies.

Of these complaints:

• More than 3,000 were regarding the delivery of treatment
• Around 1,000 concerned the length of outpatient waiting times
• Another 1,000 were made regarding the attitude or behaviour of staff.

The rest of the complaints were concerning communication, cancellations, hospital food, clinical judgment and infection control.

The report also revealed that:

• The number of patients qualifying for medical cards increased by 6% from 2007-08
• The number of patients qualifying for GP visit cards increased by 13% last year
• In 2008, the HSE spent €15 million on outside consultants
• Over the next couple of years, the HSE would consider reducing the number of beds in acute hospitals and use the money to provide community services to care for the patients instead.