complaints-received-by-complaint-category - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Percentage of complaints issues received by complaint category

Alternate Name

Percentage of complaint issues received by complaint category

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the issues arising within complaints received by a hospital, long-term care home, or Community Care Access Centre. The indicator reflects all issues included in all complaints submitted to a facility within a fiscal year.

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Efficient, Patient-centred, Safe

Type

Outcome

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Percentage

Calculation Methods

This indicator will be calculated as follows:

Numerator:

Sum of (Total number of x complaint category), Sum of (total number of y complaint category)...Sum of (total number of complaint category)

Denominator

Sum of ((N complaints (number of categories per N complaints))*100

Example:

Facility A receives 3 complaints:

Complaint X: 3 issues pertaining to communications, safety and care.

Complaint Y: 5 issues pertaining to care, attitude, communication, access and environment

Complaint Z: 2 issues pertaining to communication and environment

The calculation would be:

Sum of (Complaint X, Y, Z for communications)= 3

Divided by

Sum of (Complaint X (3), Complaint Y (5), Complaint Z (2))=10

3/10= 0.3*100= 30% of complaints issues are related to communications

Numerator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

The total number of issues mapped to one or more of the following categories and subcategories (for all complaints received by the facility):

-Care/Treatment

-Safety

-Attitude

-Communication

-Confidentiality

-Privacy/ Patient or Resident's Rights

-Timing

-Access

-Facility Issues/ Environment

-Patients or Resident's Property

-Administration

Please note: detailed subcategories and examples for each category have been provided in Appendix A. Reporting should include both the category and sub-category level.

Denominator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

Total number of issues mapped to all complaint categories and subcategories.

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- generalized

None

Data Source

Local data collection

Data provided to HQO by

Local data collection

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Health care setting, Institution, Region

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

The recommendations emerging from the pilot phase resulted in the separation of "timing" and "access" as complaint categories to differentiate between not having access to care, versus delayed care or treatment. Operational/Administration/Finance/Cost were combined into "administration" as a broader category as the numbers for these were not significant enough to warrant separate categories. In long-term care and home care, complaints can be submitted to the facility or the Ministry-supported action-line. For long-term care, this indicator will only include complaints submitted directly to the home. Health Quality Ontario will produce facility-level online reports beginning 2018