Patients and the healthcare department are the key indicators of the progress of the community. The healthcare workers and staff have the responsibility to deal with the patients cooperatively. Healthy and satisfied patients provide positive feedback about the paramedical staff’s hospital facilities and behavior to their fellows.
Complaints are essential for the process of regulation and error rectification. The HR department should promptly respond to all the patients’ complaints to provide quality healthcare to all the patients.
What is a patient complaint letter?
Patient’s complaint letters are essential in the development of a healthy relationship between healthcare providers and patients. All the complaints should write in these formal letters. Bilateral cooperation and regulation are imperative. Patients provide their opinions in compliant letters in light of their experience at the hospital. Some patients want an apology in response to the complaint letter or others wish a refund of service charges.
Why a patient complaint letter is written?
There are many reasons for writing a patient complaint letter, but one of the primary causes is the paramedical staff’s unsatisfactory behavior. There are specific reasons like paramedical staff’s unethical and non-professional behavior, unavailability of doctors and senior medical officer, and the hospital’s appropriate number of beds unavailability.
Sometimes, the complaint letter describes when a healthcare facility is willing to conduct a feedback survey. The feedback or response-based data of patients is the accurate indicator of patients’ level of satisfaction. Patients can write their complaints in the feedback forms as well as in separate formal letters. The hospital’s senior management should view all such notes on a priority basis to resolve the patients’ criticisms efficiently.
Hospitals’ complaints letter should highlight all the issues that the patient has faced during their stay in the hospital. These formal letters are also known as an expression of grievance and dispute within a healthcare setting. Sometimes, the complaints are not so serious like an issue related to a paramedical staff or doctor’s behavior. However, sometimes the problems are so severe like the negligence of staff that caused a person’s death. In such circumstances, the hospitals should take legal actions on an immediate basis.
How to write a complaint letter to a hospital?
- Address the management of the hospital:
A complaint letter can write directly to the head of the hospital or the head of a specific department. These letters should clearly state the event or dissatisfaction experience that the patient or the patient’s legal guardian has faced.
- Content of the letter
The content of a formal complaint letter should brief and no more than two pages. All the events should write clearly. The date, time, and the names of all the persons should be stated clearly. If you are writing a letter on behalf of a person, your relationship with the person should also be noted. All the events should be written clearly but do not use abusive language. If the complaint is lengthy, then do not hesitate to attach the log sheets or supportive documents.
- Benefits
A complaint letter is an essential source to bring improvement in the procedures and improve accommodation services. The complaint letters should be brief enough to convey the problem in a very polite and firm way to instigate the attention of the authorities towards the fundamental problem. The complainant should clearly state what sort of regulation he wants from the management.
- Supportive documents
The complaint letters must be attached with all the supportive documents that the complainant has as proof of their visit to the hospital’s concerned department. Photocopies of all the documents should be attached to the complaint letter. All the correspondence should be through the proper channel, and cross-verification must be done that the concerned authorities receive your complaint letter.
The letter of acknowledgment of receipt with a complaint number should be provided to the complainant immediately. The provision of all these receipts is imperative to have complete satisfaction that his complaint is appropriately addressed.
The hospital complaint letter must include the following things:
- The name and designation of the head of the department
- The name, address, and phone number of the complainant
- The date of visit to the hospital and names of the staff who have attended the patients.
- Briefly describe the event of a dissatisfactory experience.
- Mention all the possible outcomes.
- Attach the copies of supporting documents.
- End the letter by thanking the authorities for showing patience and response.
Sample letter:
Date
Name of Contact Person
Name of Hospital
Hospital Address
City, State, Zip Code
Subject: Lack of accommodation in the emergency ward
Dear Mr./MS XYZ,
I am Mrs. ABC, and I am writing this letter on behalf of my son (mention the child’s name and age). We have entered your hospital’s emergency ward on January 5, 20XX, at 1:00 a.m. My son was suffering from severe tonsillitis and high-grade fever. The emergency room was over-crowded, and we have to wait for three hours before we got medical assistance and a proper bed. We had waited three hours on a chair, and no one was there to start the medication.
We all are well aware of the prevailing conditions of the entire world. COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world altogether. Hospitals and paramedical staff are on high alert in the world. We are well-aware of their responsibilities, but the fact is that every patient requires emergency treatment and individual attention as well. The accommodation facility should be available for all the patients, and you need to increase the number of beds in your hospital’s emergency ward.
Since I had suffered unnecessarily, I want to request you to please increase the number of paramedical staff in the emergency department so that no one suffers the same circumstances in the future. I have attached all the necessary documents with this letter for your convenience.
Thank you so much for your patience.
Sincerely,
Patient’s Name
Patient’s Address
City, State, Zip Code
Phone number
Signature
List of enclosed documents.
File: Word (.docx) 2007+ and iPad
Size 20 Kb
Download