A doctor refused to inform a patient about the results of his tests, because the patient had visited a second doctor of the same specialty, children of an elderly man found him tied to his bed in the ward of the hospital in which he was treated, a patient needed an allergist and was given an appointment in ten months time.
Complaints of all kinds were submitted last month to the Patients' Rights Observatory of the Federation of Cyprus Patients' Associations and concerned both public and private hospitals, inside and outside the GHS, as well as the procedures followed for obtaining medicines and referring patients abroad by the Ministry of Health.
Of course, visits to physiotherapists, speech therapists and other health professionals and the limited number allowed per year by the HIO were not absent from citizens' reports this time either.
One of the complaints received concerned the lack of access for people with disabilities to health service facilities. Specifically, as reported to the OSAC, an elderly person in a wheelchair went to a doctor's office that was not accessible, as a result of which his escorts were forced to carry him into the office to be examined by the doctor.
Several of the complaints recorded by the Observatory in November reveal the misunderstanding or mistrust that prevails between health workers and patients.
Indicative was the case of a patient who complained that a specialist doctor referred him to laboratory tests in order to decide whether or not to continue his medication and while, as mentioned in the complaint, the results of the tests had been issued, he continued, unknowingly, to take these drugs when he did not need them.
The same patient also said that he asked the doctor for the results of his tests but he refused to give them to him because, as he claimed, he had visited a second doctor of the same specialty.
In another case, a personal doctor, according to the complaining patient, refused to issue a short-term referral (including two visits) to a specialist, asking the citizen to contact the specialist doctor and request the issuance of a long-term referral (which includes up to 12 visits).
Delays in the service of patients by the Accident and Emergency Departments, as well as the behaviour of some health workers, were also included in the citizens' complaints.
> Patient visited TAEP after an accident. As he said, the waiting time was too long and the behaviour of health workers was bad. The long waiting time was attributed by the staff of TAEP to the lack of beds. The same patient reported, however, that over the course of eight hours he received proper and "good" care.
> Relatives of an elderly woman also reported long delays at the TAEP she visited. According to the complaint, due to the delay they left, but her condition worsened and she had to be taken back to hospital by ambulance.
Regarding the procedures followed by the Ministry of Health, a complaint was submitted concerning a child with a rare condition who has undergone surgery abroad.
According to what was reported to the Observatory, the child needs to travel frequently in order to be monitored by his doctor, but each time he has to go through the same approval procedure of the Ministry of Health.
In total, the Patient Observatory received 38 complaints last month. Of these, 27 involved patients over 50 years of age.
