Guernsey medical complaint process 'a bit of joke'

A woman, whose husband died from a brain tumour in 2024, is calling for medical complaints in Guernsey to be investigated by an external body.

Helen Mahoney's complaints about his early care, including a reluctance to investigate his repeated symptoms, were partially upheld by a Medical Specialist Group (MSG) process overseen by Health & Social Care (HSC).

He initially went to hospital in 2022 with stroke-like symptoms and was discharged shortly after, he returned twice the next day and was admitted on the second.

Dr Peter Rabey, medical director, said HSC "is committed to taking complaints seriously, and making improvements whenever and wherever we can when they are identified".

Helen described the complaints process as "a bit of a joke" as they are addressed to the head of the department being complained about rather than an external ombudsman.

She said: "If you were writing to an external body, they would go into this investigating it from an unbiased position."

Helen's first complaint letter outlined her concerns regarding the alleged failings around Jez's care, which she believes led to reduced quality of life.

This included his early discharges, a reluctance to investigate his seizures and a lack of compassion.

Helen said she was "surprised at the lack of professional curiosity" especially as he was covered by his health insurance policy.

A follow-up letter asked for clarification on points in the response from MSG.

The MSG has the contract to provide secondary healthcare and provides consultants who work in the Emergency Department.

The findings of its investigation said the decision to admit does not mean "failing to admit earlier in the day was wrong" and "ultimately this is a subjective decision".

Helen said recent events - including the arrest of Deputy Gavin St Pier over allegations of harassment, which he denies - had made islanders lose confidence in speaking out.

It follows a row between St Pier and a local doctor, after he was accused of abusing parliamentary privilege when he named Dr Sandie Bohin in a speech in the States in reference to concerns around safeguarding in the island's health system.

Since then St Pier has said a number of families have contacted him to express their concerns about how complaints are dealt with by HSC, which has led to calls for an independent watchdog.

When asked about the impact of his arrest St Pier said: "People do have concerns about raising complaints with the very people that they're going to need to go and see, maybe next week or next month, whether for their own care or for the care of their loved ones."

Deputy Sally Rochester, chair of the working group looking at HSC's complaint process, wants to create more transparency.

She said: "There's no point in having a complaints process that for whatever reason individuals don't feel comfortable, confident or willing to use."

In a bid to build trust between the States and the public, Rochester hopes the working group will allow people to come forward about their experiences with the system and use this to inform future steps.

She said: "What we have to do as a working group, which is really important but probably not easy, is to reconcile the realities of small community life and the provision of healthcare as it stands, but also try very hard to make sure those individuals feel confident and comfortable using that complaints process , so we can learn lessons when things go wrong."

When asked about Helen's case the MSG offered its deepest sympathies to her and her family and said it had accepted it could have offered a more detailed explanation and been more explicit in its apology.

The statement added that decisions about an independent health complaints body sat with the States, but it would welcome constructive involvement.

In response to the BBC, HSC said: "We are always seeking to improve, and the complaints process is part of how we learn."

Rabey said: "Health & Social Care share a complaints policy with the Medical Specialist Group to ensure parity for service users.

"The policy allows for the review of a complaint in a number of ways, which ensures the most effective approach can be taken on a case-by-case basis, ranging from local reviews to Royal College reviews.

"The process also includes an appeals process if a complainant feels their complaint was not properly considered."

The HSC medical director added: "We are always seeking to improve, and the complaints process is part of how we learn."

Deputy George Oswald, HSC President, said as he announced last month a dedicated working group would be convened to recommend ways to strengthen the joint HSC/MSG complaints process.

The former doctor and founder of the MSG said: "The goal is to build greater public confidence and ensure that when issues are raised, the resulting learning is acted upon across HSC to prevent recurrence."

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