The rate of complaints against doctors is high, and rising, a survey has found.
Those more likely to be complained about are general practitioners, male doctors and those with higher postgraduate qualifications.
The survey, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, said this suggested that responsibility for patient care might be
an important complaint risk factor.
The survey, led by Wayne Cunningham, a senior lecturer at the Otago School of Medicine department of general practice, found that of 971 doctors asked, 34 per cent had at some point had a complaint against them and the rate of complaints was rising. Complaints took a long time to be resolved.
Three categories of doctors were surveyed: GPs, hospital-based specialists, and general registrants which included junior hospital doctors.
The survey found that one in three doctors surveyed had experienced a complaint, and in 2000 the complaint rate per doctor per year was 5.7 per cent (of which 85 per cent were dismissed).
The study said it could not explain why some events led to a complaint while others did not, but it did consider doctors' views about the reasons for complaint.
The study said the role of the complaints system needed to be debated and made explicit.
- NZPA
