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Regulating healthcare complaints: a literature review

Fleur Beaupert (Independent Researcher, Sydney, Australia)
Terry Carney (The Law School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)
Mary Chiarella (Sydney Nursing School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)
Claudette Satchell (Sydney Nursing School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)
Merrilyn Walton (School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)
Belinda Bennett (The Law School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)
Patrick Kelly (School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia)

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance

ISSN: 0952-6862

Publication date: 8 July 2014

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore approaches to the regulation of healthcare complaints and disciplinary processes.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review was conducted across Medline, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Science, Google Scholar and the health, law and social sciences collections of Informit, using terms tapping both the complaints process and regulation generally.

Findings

A total of 118 papers dealing with regulation of health complaints or disciplinary proceedings were located. The review reveals a shift away from self-regulation towards greater external oversight, including innovative regulatory approaches including “networked governance” and flexible or “responsive” regulation. It reports growing interest in adoption of strategic and responsive approaches to health complaints governance, by rejecting traditional legal forms in favor of more strategic and responsive forms, taking account of the complexity of adverse health events by tailoring responses to individual circumstances of complainants and their local environments.

Originality/value

The challenge of how to collect and harness complaints data to improve the quality of healthcare at a systemic level warrants further research. Scope also exists for researching health complaints commissions and other “meta-regulatory” bodies to explore how to make these processes fairer and better able to meet the complex needs of complainants, health professionals, health services and society.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

EM Chiarella, M Walton, B Bennett, T Carney, and PJ Kelly are in receipt of Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant (LP110200075), in partnership with AHPRA and HPCA, to compare the complaints and notification system under the national system and in NSW. CS Satchell is the project manager for the grant and in receipt of a salary from this grant.

Competing interests: Mary Chiarella is a paid AHPRA-affiliated Australia Nursing and Midwifery Board member. Merrilyn Walton is an AHPRA Management Committee paid member and was the founding Commissioner for the HCCC (1994-2000). Belinda Bennett is an AHPRA-affiliated Medical Board and a HPCA-affiliated Medical Council of NSW paid member.

Citation

Beaupert, F., Carney, T., Chiarella, M., Satchell, C., Walton, M., Bennett, B. and Kelly, P. (2014), "Regulating healthcare complaints: a literature review", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 505-518. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-05-2013-0053

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Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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