|
CHILDREN AS COMPLAINANTS
IN THE HEALTH AND PERSONAL SOCIAL SERVICES IN NORTHERN IRELAND
4 STATISTICS ON CHILDRENS
COMPLAINTS IN NORTHERN IRELAND
The previous section of this
report noted that the formality of both the Wilson and the
Children Order complaints systems may deter most dissatisfied
children and their parents from making HPSS complaints.
Nonetheless as this section will show, a substantial number
of complaints are made each year. In the year January to
December 2000 Department of Health Social Services and Public
Safety statistics show that most HPSS complaints were made
through the Wilson rather than the Children Order systems.
Complaints by or about children may occur under any of the
programmes of care except for that of 'Elderly Services'.
However the Programmes of Care most likely to have a higher
proportion of complaints concerning children are Family
and Child Care Services followed by Maternal and Child Health.
These accounted for 320 (8.1%) and 207 (5.3%) respectively
of 3928 recorded complaints. (See figure 4.).
It is not possible from Departmental
statistics to ascertain how many complaints outside the
Family and Childcare programme concerned the treatment of
children and young people. However, children and young people
under the age of 18 make up 28% of the population of Northern
Ireland (Switzer 1997) and must be significant users of,
for example, services in the acute and primary health programmes
of care.
From January to December
2000 the subject which gave most cause for complaint was
the quality of patient treatment and care, (see figure 4.2)
which accounted for 739 complaints (18.8%); this was followed
by 522 complaints (13.2%) about staff attitudes and behaviour
and 319 (8.1%) about communication and information to patients.
A total of 91 (2.3%) complaints were classified as "Children
Order Complaints" however there would appear to be some
discrepancy in the Department's data on this point in that
there were 98 Children Order complaints listed in the Family
and Childcare programme of care (see figure 4.1)
January-June 2001
For the half-year January
to June 2001 there were 2142 complaints in total with 135
(6.3%) of these under the Family and Childcare Programme
of Care and 117 (5.5%) under Maternal and Child Health.
(Table 4.1)
Table 4.1 Numbers of recorded
complaints, N. Ireland January to June 2001
| |
PROGRAMME OF CARE |
Number
of Complaints for Quarter Ending March 2001 |
Number
of Complaints for Quarter Ending June 2001 |
TOTAL |
| Number |
% |
| |
Acute |
604 |
555 |
1159 |
54.1 |
| 2 |
Maternal & Child Health |
53 |
64 |
117 |
5.5 |
| 3 |
(1) Family and Child Care: Complaints
under the Children Order |
33 |
30 |
63 |
2.9 |
| 4 |
(2) Family and Child Care: Complaints
other than under Children Order |
33 |
39 |
72 |
3.4 |
| 5 |
Elderly Services |
109 |
96 |
205 |
9.6 |
| 6 |
Mental Health |
50 |
37 |
87 |
4.0 |
| 7 |
Learning Disability |
23 |
24 |
47 |
2.2 |
| 8 |
Sensory Impairment & Physical Disability |
71 |
76 |
147 |
6.9 |
| 9 |
Health Promotion & Disease Prevention |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0.04 |
| 10 |
Primary Health & Adult Community |
62 |
63 |
125 |
5.8 |
| 11 |
None (no Programme of Care assigned) |
66 |
53 |
119 |
5.6 |
| |
TOTAL |
1105 |
1037 |
2142 |
100 |
With
regard to Subject of complaint, (Table 4.2) quality of treatment
and care was again top of the list with 402 complaints
(18.8%). A total of 58 complaints (2.7%) were listed as
being "Children Order Complaints". However once again there
appears to be a discrepancy as records for the Family and
Childcare Program of Care list 63 Children Order complaints
for the same time period.
Table 4.2 Subject of complaints,
N. Ireland January-June 2001
| SUBJECT
OF COMPLAINT |
Number of Complaints for Quarter
Ending March 2001
|
Number of Complaints for Quarter
Ending June 2001
|
TOTAL
|
|
Number
|
%
|
| Access to premises
|
6
|
6
|
12
|
0.6
|
| Access to records (right
of access) |
0
|
4
|
4
|
0.2
|
| Access to records (unavailability)
|
7
|
5
|
12
|
0.6
|
| Admissions, delay/cancellations
(inpatient) |
67
|
42
|
109
|
5.0
|
| Aids, adaptations and
appliances |
63
|
73
|
136
|
6.3
|
| Appointments, delay/cancellations
(outpatient) |
54
|
70
|
124
|
5.8
|
| Board Purchasing |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Clinical diagnosis
|
29
|
31
|
60
|
2.8
|
| Code of openness complaints
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Communication/information
to patients |
85
|
83
|
168
|
7.8
|
| Complaints handling
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
0.2
|
| Confidentiality |
4
|
4
|
8
|
0.4
|
| Consent to treatment
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
0.1
|
| Discharge and transfer
arrangements |
20
|
26
|
46
|
2.1
|
| Hotel/support/security
services |
42
|
24
|
66
|
3.1
|
| Independent sector
services purchased by Trusts |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Mortuary & post-mortem
arrangement |
8
|
0
|
8
|
0.4
|
| Patients privacy &
dignity |
9
|
12
|
21
|
1
|
| Patients property &
expenses |
13
|
8
|
21
|
1
|
| Patients status, discrimination
(e.g. race, sex age) |
2
|
5
|
7
|
0.3
|
| Policy & commercial
decisions |
21
|
22
|
43
|
2.0
|
| Professional assessment
|
28
|
34
|
62
|
2.9
|
| Staff attitude/behaviour
|
140
|
139
|
279
|
13
|
| Transport, late arrival/non-arrival
|
41
|
22
|
63
|
2.9
|
| Transport, suitability
of vehicle |
5
|
1
|
6
|
0.3
|
| Transport, length of
journey time |
1
|
0
|
1
|
0.04
|
| Treatment & Care (quality)
|
222
|
180
|
402
|
18.8
|
| Treatment & Care (quantity)
|
57
|
76
|
133
|
6.2
|
| Waiting lists, community
services |
40
|
32
|
72
|
3.4
|
| Waiting time, outpatient
departments |
11
|
10
|
21
|
0.9
|
| Waiting time, A&E departments
|
22
|
19
|
41
|
1.9
|
| Waiting times, community
services |
10
|
8
|
18
|
0.8
|
| Children Order complaints
|
33
|
25
|
58
|
2.7
|
| Other |
59
|
76
|
135
|
6.3
|
| TOTAL |
1105
|
1037
|
2142
|
100
|
For more detailed information
on the number and nature of complaints involving children
it was necessary to seek information directly from Trusts.
This was done through a postal survey of Trust complaints
staff (see Sections 4, 6 and Annex 1). Section 6 provides
the findings of that survey and like this section, underlines
that complaints by or about children are a very significant
proportion of HPSS complaints.
|
