e-Health and Healthcare Innovations

Healthcare errors do occur, and there needs to be a system for dealing with the error and complaints that may follow. Complaints are oft en viewed negatively, but positive outcomes can result from complaints; from small lessons learnt through to service wide improvements. Fair and responsive complaint frameworks are

an important part of quality clinical care. Believing this shapes how complaints are treated, by using eff ective systems and informatics to capture data not only enables individual matters to be dealt with, but provides trend data leading to quality improvement. Having a good system of dealing with complaints, and recognising them for the role complaints can play, will be assisted by complaint handling standards, applied consistently. Again, all the systems were aligned with the patient experience. Resolving complaints directly can: be the quickest and easiest way to resolve issues; create opportunities for health services to rebuild trust; improve quality and safety through feedback; prevent minor issues from escalating into major problems. Th e right attitudes within healthcare can go a long

way in creating a positive culture in which complaints are seen as an opportunity and not a threat. By having in place eff ective systems to capture complaints data and identify trends and adopting a genuine interest in receiving feedback, health services can create an environment that improves quality in healthcare.