Complaints on the rise
By Olive Carterton
Complaints about consultants have become the top area of dissatisfaction from patients receiving private practice treatment during Covid-19.
These accounted for 18% of the heads of complaint received by the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS) in the year to the end of March 2021.
Its annual report said complaints handling received 17% of gripes, accommodation 10%, clinical – non-medical and nursing 8%, and nursing 7%.
In this reporting period, 109 complainants received a final decision from an independent adjudicator. Of these, adjudicators identified 624 heads of complaint, up from 348 the previous year.
ISCAS believes a possible explanation for this increase is the nature and complexity of the complaints received during the previous 12 months.
Some people had ‘unrealistic expectations’ about the possible outcomes of adjudication – seeking a refund, revision surgery and/or financial compensation.
These customers were signposted to ‘more appropriate’ forums such as Citizen’s Advice Bureau or to seek independent legal advice.
However, goodwill payments were made in around 83% of completed cases in this reporting period, an increase of around 9% compared to the previous year. The average goodwill payment rose from £605 the previous year to £613.
Of ISCAS’s 200+ subscribers, 34 were new, including five NHS private patient units (NHSPPUs).
ISCAS reported: ‘While it is good to see more NHSPPUs subscribing to ISCAS, the pace of expansion is slow and ISCAS continues to receive complaints from private patients treated in the NHS who have no access to an appropriate body for complaint escalation’.
Adjudicators either ‘uphold’, ‘partially uphold’ or ‘do not uphold’ a particular head of complaint.
58.8% of complaint heads were either upheld or partially upheld, a slight decrease on the previous year.
ISCAS subscribers bear the cost of adjudications, averaging £2,053 which is down from the previous financial year.
A quarter of cases required expert clinical advice, up from 14%, costing an average of £1,653 per case, up from £1,357 per case.
Independent adjudicators have discretion whether to engage the services of an expert, depending on a case’s nature and complexity.