PATIENT OMBUDSMAN: HEALTH-CARE QUALITY COMPLAINTS ON THE RISE

Mar 07, 2023

By Bob Komsic

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Ontario has seen more complaints about poor quality of care in the health system and more about use of force by hospital security.
Those are a couple of the key findings in the patient ombudsman’s annual report.
There were over 3,300 complaints in the 2021-22 year; most in the Toronto-area and northern Ontario.
Ombudsman Craig Thompson says a majority of the complaints were about access to care and not enough staff.
”Everybody’s under a lot of stress and I think this report highlights it on both sides – patients and families are under stress as are health-care providers,” he adds.
”The system is certainly operating under quite a bit of strain, and we’re seeing that because the complaints are related to staffing issues and access to care.”
There was a 43% increase in complaints from patients and caregivers who said there were treated with a lack of sensitivity and caring; especially in emergency departments.  
There were just under 100 complaints about negative experiences with hospital security.     
”Hospital emergency departments have become the crucible where many of these pressures on the health-care system ignite,” according to Thompson.   
His office received 22 complaints about alleged assaults by security guards.
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