Informal complaints procedure in general practice

BMJ 1994;309:478 (13 August)

Letters

Informal complaints procedure in general practice

EDITOR, - P C Pietroni and S de Uray-Ura describe an importantdevelopment in general practice - namely, an informal complaintsprocedure.¹ Their experience shows that a need for a practicebased complaints procedure exists and that a viable protocolcan be devised. Their use of the procedure for complaints bystaff as well as complaints by patients is welcome.

The Medical Defence Union supports the concept of practice basedcomplaints procedures, but such procedures are unlikely to reducethe number of general practitioners who are found in breachof their terms of service for serious complaints such as failureto visit when necessary. They should, however, reduce the numberof complaints to the family health services authorities thatdo not concern terms of service.

The authors do not describe how they dealt with patients' "grumbles"before their practice complaints procedure was set up. Manysuch grumbles can be dealt . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

Informal complaints procedure in general practice: first year's experience: P C Pietroni and S De Uray-Ura
BMJ 1994 308: 1546-1549. [Abstract] [Full Text]