Health-care complaints have risen 33 percent since last year and include a “troubling” number of grievances from those struggling to access primary care, Ontario’s patient ombudsman says.
Ombudsman Craig Thompson received 4,388 complaints during the 2022-23 year, its highest number of complaints to date.
The majority of complaints, 3,235 of them, came in through the agency’s call centre while the remainder were written complaints, according to the
annual report released by his office on Nov. 15.
“What is notable, and troubling, is the significant growth in non-jurisdictional complaints that are mostly related to primary care and echo some all-too-familiar themes: people are having trouble accessing primary care, have limited options for their care, and often have nowhere to turn,” Mr. Thompson
wrote, adding that his main function, as ombudsman, is to provide “insight as to what is working and, more importantly, what is not.”
The majority of the 785 primary care complaints received, the report said, were due to difficulties accessing walk-in clinics, lack of access to a physician, issues booking appointments, or delays with care.
The report noted that the growing number of complaints falling outside of the office’s jurisdiction have “no appropriate oversight or referral mechanism.”
“Going forward, our office will start analyzing the data collected to better understand this unaddressed need,” the report said.
Half of the complaints within the ombudsman’s purview involved hospitals, a number the report called “unsurprising” because more people access care through the emergency room than other health sector organizations.
The top five concerns about hospitals were: the quality of care received, poor diagnosis/treatment, discharges or transfers, poor communication, and lack of sensitivity and respect.
The number of complaints involving long-term care homes dipped substantially from 858 during the two years of the pandemic to 334 complaints in the past year. The report attributed the decrease to an easing of restrictions on visiting, widespread COVID-19 vaccination, and government investments in staffing and infection prevention and control.
The smallest group of complaints—six percent—involved home and community care services. There were a total of 272 complaints with most referencing the ongoing staffing challenges and lack of stability of personal support services for home care patients.
Patient Complaints
The report also highlighted details surrounding a few of the complaints the ombudsman received.One complainant reported a family member had been taken to the hospital emergency department several times over the course of a few weeks for shortness of breath and chest heaviness. The family member, who was examined and discharged, was found dead at home less than 24 hours after the last visit to the emergency department.
Another complainant reported waiting hours in the emergency department while having a miscarriage. The patient described nearly passing out in the washroom while actively bleeding. She said she was yelled at by a clerk while another clerk rolled their eyes at her. The patient’s complaint described “the lack of compassion and care as astounding.”
Another patient was brought to the emergency room with symptoms of a heart attack and was made to wait in line to be triaged. When the patient’s caregiver left the line to advise the triage nurse of the patient’s deteriorating state, the nurse told the caregiver there were 10 other people in line who could also be having heart attacks and everyone needed to wait their turn. The nurse also announced to the waiting room that they were the only triage nurse and had already worked a 12-hour shift. The patient and caregiver drove more than 100 kilometres to the next closest hospital where the patient was quickly triaged and a test confirmed a heart attack. The patient was then transferred to a cardiac care unit for surgery.
