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Complaints against psychiatrists: a five year study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Leena Roy
Affiliation:
Loddon NHS Trust, Park Prewett Hospital, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG24 9LZ
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Abstract

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Complaints made against doctors are increasingly important given the current emphasis on consumerism in the National Health Service and the publication of the report of the Wilson Committee which reviews complaints procedures. There have also been recent changes in medical indemnity and increased litigation. The origins of complaints made against psychiatrists were studied. Most complaints were made by relatives and advocates rather than the patients themselves and half were made after the patient was discharged from hospital. It was found that most complaints arose out of a breakdown of communication between psychiatrist and patient.

Type
Original Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1995

References

References and further reading

Bradley, J. (1989) Malpractice in psychiatry. Medico-legal. Journal 57, part 3, 164173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Department of Health (1994) Being Heard: the report of a review committee on NHS complaints procedures. London: Department of Health.Google Scholar
Slawson, P. F. G. & Guggenheim, F. G. (1984) Psychiatric malpractice: a review of the national loss experience. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 979981.Google ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
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