The Patient Advocacy Service has launched its 2023 Annual Report. The Report presents the key activities, statistics, and achievements of the Service and showcases the continuing growth in demand for independent advocacy services in Ireland.
The Patient Advocacy Service, commissioned by the Department of Health and delivered by the National Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities (NAS), provides support to people who wish to make a complaint about their care in a Public Acute Hospital or a Nursing Home and in the aftermath of a patient safety incident. The Patient Advocacy Service was established in 2019 and this is its fourth annual report.
The Patient Advocacy Service provided support to 2,012 individuals in 2023, addressing 5,617 separate complaint issues, an 8.2% increase from the previous year. Notably, the Patient Advocacy Service expanded its remit to include Private Nursing Homes in 2023, resulting in a significant increase in enquiries and cases related to nursing home complaints. The Service supported 197 individuals seeking to make complaints about their care in nursing homes, representing nearly a 150% increase from 2022. Complaint issues included people’s Anxieties Acknowledged not Addressed, Staff not Communicating Care Plans, Unable to Access Specialist Care, Phone Calls not Returned, Difficulty Phoning Health Care Unit and Patient Monitoring Delayed. The Report highlights the range of issues that people in hospitals and nursing homes had in 2023 and how serious and complex some of their complaint issues were. Some contacts involved several different complaints at several different levels of severity.
The National Framework for Open Disclosure was launched in October 2023 and will strengthen patients’ rights ensuring that patients and their families have access to comprehensive and timely information, including an apology where appropriate, in relation to serious patient safety incidents. The Patient Advocacy Service is available to support patients/service users and their support persons who have been affected by patient safety incidents and adverse events in acute public hospital settings and nursing homes, and this framework ensures that this support will be available to patients and nursing home residents.
Georgina Cruise, National Manager of the Patient Advocacy Service, said: “Access to independent advocacy provides crucial impartial support and plays a vital role in empowering patients in public acute hospitals and residents in nursing homes to have their rights upheld and their voice, will and preference heard.
We welcome the commencement of landmark legislation, the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 which compels open disclosure of notifiable incidents and along with the National Open Disclosure Framework 2023, will strengthen the culture of transparency and accountability in health and social care settings.
Complaints also provide the opportunity for learning and improved patient safety. The Patient Advocacy Service supports the elevation of the patient voice and the opportunity to share their lived experience and empowers people with knowledge to advocate for themselves in their ongoing care, encouraging collaboration and patient partnership to promote a culture of compassion, openness, learning and quality improvement.”
Read the Annual Report 2023 here:
Patient Advocacy Service Annual Report 2023
Check out highlights from the Annual Report 2023 in the video below:
PAS Annual 2023 Report Key Findings