ESY: Athens Protection Offices – What changes in patient registration and examination

Since Monday (16.9.240) the new “Single Management Regulation for complaints and complaints” for the NSO is in force through the Offices for the Protection of Rights of Recipients of Health Services (GPDLY). The new regulation is expected to simplify the procedure for collecting and investigating complaints, but also to speed up the administration of justice, where the patient was not served, wronged, or not received the services the system should provide. Speaking at iatropedia.gr, the project’s director, General Secretary of Health Services, Lillian Venice Vildiridis, points out that this framework will serve as a guide for citizens. It even urges them to move from now on to the use of this new tool. “What changes is that the procedure for collecting and investigating complaints and complaints submitted by citizens and patients in the hospitals of the NSI is standardized,” the Secretary General notes and adds that the regulation aims to improve the management of patients’ complaints, making the procedure more immediate. “The Regulation will act as a guide to the citizen and as a written guarantee for the procedure followed when it wishes to denounce the wrong texts or express its positive impressions from its overall experience in a NSO hospital”. ‘Weapon in the hands of patients, the new standard regulation’ Through the new process, citizens’ observations will be recorded and archived electronically in an indivisible way, which will ensure that they can evaluate in real time their experience in the NSO hospitals, while particular emphasis will be placed on the protection of their personal data. With these new digital services, citizens will contribute to the continuous improvement of the benefits of the ESA. “Through the Rules it is communicated to the citizen that the wording of his positive or negative experiences not only constitutes his inalienable right, but also that his opinion is heard and taken into account in policy making, with full respect for the protection of his personal data,” the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health notes. At the same time, the Patient Protection Offices (GPDLY) will cooperate with hospital administrations to take corrective actions. The digital interconnection of GPADLY with hospital administrations will allow data collection, so that no information remains unused, stresses Mrs. Vildiridis. “We recognize that Offices can now be our strong ally to improve the quality of health services provided. They have been set up within each hospital of the NSO, thus constituting a direct point of contact with both the citizen and hospital administrations to take corrective actions and/or to extend the application of good practices,” he stresses. Communication problems, in the majority of citizens’ complaints for 2023 According to the GCDLY Report for 2023, patients submitted a total of 7,707 complaints, of which 1,836 were written and 5,871 oral. The main reasons for complaints concerned: Communication and service problems (28,46%) Poor functioning of clinics and departments, such as the Departments of External Medicine (TTE), Emergency Departments (TEPs), and Intensive Care Units (ICUs) (18%) Inappropriate or unethical behaviour of medical and nursing staff (13.4%) Long waiting times (8,56%) In addition to the complaints, GPADLY also accepted 11,212 requests for service and 3,492 thank-you letters from citizens who expressed their satisfaction with the health services received. Solving complaints in 2023 In 2023 an investigation of 1,315 of the 1,836 written complaints lodged was completed. In 167 cases, the competent services of hospitals were mobilised to resolve the issues, while in 47 cases an Affidavit Administrative Examination (AED) was carried out. Some serious complaints were referred to the National Authority Transparency, while others were put on record due to recall or abusive submission by patients themselves. Regarding oral complaints, 5,741 of 5,871 recorded were investigated. This evidence demonstrates the ongoing effort of GPADLY to improve health services provided. By Janna Soulaki / iatropedia.gr