A one-year analysis of patient complaints regarding healthcare services in qurayyat city, Saudi Arabia

Objectives: To evaluate and classify patients’ complaints regarding the healthcare services in Qurayyat in order to categorise the nature of these queries and focus on the areas that require intercession for improvement. Background: Patient complaints are beneficial and can be used for assessing healthcare services and working to meet public expectancy of healthcare schemes. Nonetheless, no investigation has been conducted to address patient queries in Qurayyat. Methods: Retrospective record-based analysis was used to analyze the contents of patients’ complaints (n=524) in Qurayyat submitted to the call centre (called ‘937’) of the Ministry of Health (MOH) between the period of October 2016 and October 2017 using the SPSS statistical package (ver. 18.0). Results: The study classified 22 complaints categories; out of these, three were highlighted: Inadequate Resources 14.7% (n=77), Poor Staff Attitude 14.5% (n=76), and Inadequate Staffing 13.5% (n=71). Of the complainants, 69.5% (n = 364) were male, and 30.5% (n = 160) were female. Most complaints were raised against the healthcare facilities at Qurayyat General Hospital, 63.2% (n=331), Primary Healthcare Centers, 17.7% (n=93), and King Faisal Hospital, 6.9% (n=36). Conclusion: The study revealed that Staff Attitudes, Inadequate Staffing and Resources were the most pivotal issues that most of the patients, or their relatives, complained against. Addressing these issues in the healthcare facilities in Qurayyat are important elements for improving patients’ satisfaction.