HEALTH officials are being obstructive and employing delaying tactics when it comes to improving respect for patients’ rights in the public healthcare system, Ombudswoman Iliana Nicolaou said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters after presenting her Annual Report for 2009 to President Demetris Christofias, which highlighted an increase in the number of serious complaints to her Office from patients, Nicolaou said that “in a number of complaints, the officials either raise difficulties and obstacles, and delay providing the necessary information, or they use drawn-out processes to render the matter meaningless”, it said.

“Typically, very often it takes two, three or even several letters to be sent from the Office in order to get the relevant reply, on most occasions without the ministry’s positions being accompanied by the essential figures that would allow safe conclusions to be drawn.”

Although complaints about the island’s healthcare services accounted for 4.2 per cent of the 2,755 complaints that were investigated during 2009, they resulted in 7.0 per cent of the very serious cases judged to warrant a written report to the relevant health service containing proposals and recommendations by the Ombudswoman’s Office.

In her introductory note to her annual report, Nicolaou wrote that there was a serious need for a special focus on patients’ rights and the need to develop legislation to support them.

“The reports that were submitted in reality demonstrated the ignorance that exists on this subject among those in positions of responsibility, who nevertheless bear the responsibility for promoting and implementing the legislation and for the vast shortcomings to be found in a sector which relates to man’s most important possession.”

The section on healthcare highlighted an apparent lack of willingness by health officials to address problems raised through specific complaints, to the extent that “a significant proportion” of them appear to question the Ombudswoman’s right to carry out administrative audits.

This failure to respond properly “remains a cause for concern, and is the foremost negative factor” in terms of dealing with the complaints smoothly. “Problems are to be found on almost every level of the responsible Ministry’s activity and operation, from the clinics that deal with patients in the front line, up to hospital and department management, where even examination at the appeal stage of the complaints made is shown in most cases to be incapable of leading to the necessary corrections.”

Nicolaou also pointed the finger at Health Minister Christos Patsalides, saying that a meeting she had with him in January 2009 to improve the Ministry’s co-operation with her office “did not produce the expected results, despite the relevant assurances”.

Referring to “continuing prospects for improvement”, the report said that the “occasional criticisms” levelled by the Ombudswoman’s Office “should not be seen as a confrontation with the Health Ministry, but as a means of promoting the common objective of improving and updating the health services being provided to the public.”

Most complaints centred on Interior Ministry

The Ombudswoman’s Office received 2,663 new complaints in 2009, slightly up on 2008 (2,605).

A total of 3,246 complaints were processed (up from 2,654 in 2008). Of these, 491 were not investigated after being judged to fall outside of the Ombudswoman’s competence (e.g. private matter, pending legal case, Cabinet decision).

Of the 2,755 complaints that were investigated: 2,306 cases were cut short (879 judged to be unfounded, 198 fell outside competence by extension, 536 settled, 693 for other reasons); 118 cases ended after the Ombudswoman’s intervention satisfied the complainant; and 331 cases resulted in an Ombudswoman’s report being sent to the relevant government service.

Most of the investigated complaints involved the Interior Ministry (782 or 27.6 per cent of the total), largely relating to property and specifically the Town Planning Dept (14.4 per cent) and the Land Registry Office (5.0 per cent).

The largest single group of complaints (15.0 per cent) related to employee relations, made mainly by teachers and hourly-rate employees working for local authorities. A significant number (11.2 per cent) related to various aspects of migration (entry, residency, employment, rights, access to related services). The last significant group (10.5 per cent) related to social benefits and grants. Other groups covered environment (7.5 per cent), taxation (6.5 per cent), prisons (4.4 per cent), police (4.0 per cent), health (4.2 per cent) and education (3.6 per cent).