Complaints concerning the hospital care of elderly patients: a 12-month study of one hospital's experience

Objective: to determine the number, instigators, nature and outcome of complaints concerning elderly patients treated at a single hospital over 1 year. Design: descriptive analysis of computerized data gathered prospectively; follow-up of complaints until resolution. Setting: large, urban, university teaching hospital in Australia. Subjects: all patients aged 65 years and above whose hospital care was the subject of complaint. Methods: analysis of computerized database of all complaints made in a single year. Results: 1.44 complaints were made per 1000 occasions of sen ice to elderly people (95% confidence intervals, 1.19 - 1.69). This was similar to the overall complaint rate of 1.32 per 1000 occasions of service for patients of ail age groups (95% confidence intervals, 1.19-1.45). However, 73% of complaints were made by advocates rather than by elderly patients themselves and 96% related to communication or treatment issues. Many complaints resulted in an explanation and/or an apology and, to date, none has resulted in litigation. Conclusions: complaints concerning older hospitalized people are as common as those concerning younger patients. Analysis of complaints provides pointers for improvements in quality of care.