Mater Dei’s outpatients department tops complaints list

Replying to a parliamentary question this evening, Health Minister Joe Cassar said Mater Dei's customer care unit received 5,018 complaints by patients who visited the hospital and made use of its services.

"The number of complaints marks 0.052% of the services given during the same period," Cassar said, adding that 9,661,431 services were given at Mater Dei between 1 January and 9 November 2011.

99.2% of the complaints have been settled, while 0.8% are still pending.

Cassar said the highest amount of complaints made is about the long time patients wait to receive an appointment by the Out Patients Department. Such complaints marked 33% of the total.

Coming in second on the complaints list was again the Out Patients Department, with 5.3% complaining about the long waiting time patients would have to endure.

Another 4% complained of taking too long for their files to be found.