Patient Ombudsmen in Seven European Countries: an Effective Way to Implement Patients’ Rights?

Abstract:

The term “Ombudsman” has been adopted in a number of countries to describe an administrative system with the aim of protecting the interests of the individual citizen who complains against a public sector body.

The existence of an effective complaints mechanism is fundamental in any social arena as a means for administrative bodies to respond to the feelings, emotions and reactions of the citizens in a country.

In health care, however, traditional barriers created by the culture of institutionalised national health systems and the awe inspired by the medical professional do still exist. This makes it all the more imperative that the right to complain and the right to appeal against a first instance decision on a complaint are viewed as part of the basic fabric of rights and obligations in the sphere of the rights of patients in health care. By the same token, the existence of an effective complaints procedure is absolutely necessary to ensure that patients complaining against the violation of their rights can find redress.