Few patients aware of right to complain
The Health Service Users’ Rights Offices operating in hospitals of the National Health System (ESY) received just 17,130 complaints, grievances and requests from patients and/or their carers in 2002.
In the same year, the regular outpatient departments of ESY hospitals received approximately 5,607,000 visits, the emergency departments 4,267,000, and 2,417,000 hospitalizations were recorded.
“If the number of complaints is compared with the number of visits to ESY hospitals, it becomes clear that people are not aware of the existence of the Health Service Users’ Rights Offices,” said Health Services Secretary-General Lilian Vildiridi, who participated in the third annual event of the Greek Patients’ Association on European Patients’ Rights Day on Thursday.
The president of the association, Vasiliki Vakouftsi, echoed the same sentiment in her opening speech, asking the audience attending the event, “How many of you know about the existence of these offices?”
The event, held under the auspices of Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, with the support of the European Parliament Office in Athens, focused on the offices for the protection of the rights of healthcare users located within public hospitals, and the “necessary,” as Vakouftsi put it, “initiation of a dialogue for the optimization of their operation.”
The Health Service Users’ Rights Protection Offices were established in 2017, as an evolution of the Citizen Support Offices, and their aim is to inform citizens about their rights, collect and process complaints and grievances, and intervene in the respective services for the smooth settlement of disputes.
However, in many cases their operation remains “hidden” from citizens, they are not housed in appropriate premises, they are not adequately staffed with personnel with appropriate skills, and they do not have a uniform way of handling complaints from patients or their companions.
“There is a shortage of sufficient staff with the right skills,” said Stavros Kyriazis, the head of the Evangelismos hospital office.
