A total of 534 patient complaints and requests, both written and verbal, were recorded during the first four months of operation of the Patient Rights Officers, with quality of care, waiting times, the avoidance of unnecessary inconvenience and access to information among the main issues raised. Two in every ten written complaints concern Accident and Emergency Departments (A&E).
Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) as he approaches one year in office, Patient Ombudsman Marios Charalambides described the mechanism as “a good tool”, while stressing that individual complaints represent “one of the indicators” rather than the complete picture of the state of patients’ rights in Cyprus.
Between May 1 and August 31, 2026, 293 written complaints and 241 verbal requests were recorded—more than 130 per month. The written complaints contained a total of 843 references to categories of rights that may have been violated.
“People have started making use of the mechanism,” Charalambides said, expressing the view that its use will increase over time.
Most complaints concern everyday issues
According to the Patient Ombudsman, the figures did not reveal any major surprises, as “most of the issues are everyday issues”.
He explained that these are often “small things” which, if left unresolved, can escalate and ultimately develop into much bigger problems.
“So, the issues we talk about regarding waiting times, patient inconvenience, procedures, management and service—all of these consistently account for a large number of cases,” he said.
‘Quality’ does not only refer to medical errors
Quality of care is the most frequently cited category in written complaints, with 98 references, representing 33% of the total.
Asked what patients are referring to when they complain about quality, Charalambides clarified that the issue does not only concern medical errors.
“Let me exclude the issue of medical errors,” he said, adding that the institution also examines issues involving negligence, service and continuity of care.
Quality, he explained, also concerns “the proper treatment and proper management of each case, with professionalism, with the appropriate approach and always recognising a person’s vulnerability when they are dealing with any kind of health issue”.
Waiting times and inconvenience
Respect for patients’ time is the second most frequently cited category in written complaints, with 88 references, followed by the avoidance of unnecessary inconvenience and pain, with 80.
Charalambides said the two categories relate to several provisions of the relevant legislation and affect a significant part of patients’ everyday experiences.
Regarding what constitutes a “reasonable” waiting time, he stressed that there can be no absolute time limit because “it depends on the case”.
“There must be a framework and certain limits in every case,” he said, noting that there are also “fine lines”, as a waiting time considered reasonable in one case could constitute a violation of a patient’s rights in another.
A&E: ‘Time is certainly a key criterion’
Referring to Accident and Emergency Departments, the Patient Ombudsman said issues relating to patient service remain.
He explained that the problems are not limited to patient transfers and referrals but also concern the service patients receive within A&E departments themselves.
“Some actions were taken during the previous period, but we are not currently at a point where anyone could say that the issue has been resolved,” he said.
According to data from his office, around two in every ten written complaints concern A&E departments. Of these complaints, almost one in two relates to the avoidance of unnecessary inconvenience and pain.
Charalambides also highlighted the importance of keeping patients informed while they wait in A&E.
“Even in these cases, there are often situations where someone could go and provide people with some information, give them an idea of what is happening and reassure them,” he said.
A patient may wait for several hours without receiving any information, something which, he said, “certainly makes the problem worse”.
“It is not just about the waiting time itself. It is also about what information I receive while I am waiting and what indications I am given. These are things that need to be considered as a whole,” he added.
Information: Patients must understand, not simply be informed
Access to information is another significant source of complaints, with 71 written references, representing 24% of the total.
The Patient Ombudsman directly linked the issue to consent, stressing that “providing information must also be accompanied by confirmation that it has been understood”.
“Being informed is one thing; actually understanding is another,” he said, explaining that information must also be adapted to each patient’s individual needs.
Particular attention is required when someone has difficulty understanding specialised terminology or when dealing with an older patient.
“We must make sure that what we have informed someone about, or what we have asked them to consent to, has actually been understood,” he said.
Asked by CNA whether there are cases in which patients consent to treatment without truly understanding what is going to happen, he replied: “Such cases have existed and continue to exist.”
Public and private sectors
Regarding the distribution of complaints between the public and private healthcare sectors, Charalambides stressed that no direct comparison can be made because of differences in activity levels, the nature of cases and the departments available at each healthcare facility.
The figures show that 62% of written complaints and 58% of verbal requests concern the public sector.
“You cannot make an absolute comparison,” he reiterated, noting that issues exist in both sectors.
At this stage, Charalambides said no reliable conclusions can be drawn as to whether particular categories of problems are more prevalent in the public or private sector.
Other methods of assessment and feedback are needed, he said, to establish “a more solid and better-documented picture”.
District Committees operating from October 1
The final component of the individual complaints management mechanism, the District Complaints Review Committees, began operating on October 1.
The Patient Ombudsman explained that if a patient receives a response to a written complaint from a Patient Rights Officer and is dissatisfied with it, they can refer the case to the relevant District Committee.
The patient must submit the complaint along with the reasons for requesting a review, after which the committee will reassess the case.
According to Charalambides, the committee has one month from the date it receives the complaint to complete its review.
‘There are many issues, and they are interconnected’
Commenting on the overall picture emerging from the institution’s first months of operation, Charalambides stressed that the healthcare sector faces numerous interconnected challenges.
“I wish we could press a button and change everything the next day,” he told CNA.
He explained that addressing a specific problem requires consideration of the other factors connected to it, as another issue may affect efforts to resolve the first.
Concluding, the Patient Ombudsman stressed that “quality, time, inconvenience and information go together”, highlighting the need for cooperation and contributions from all sides to identify practices that violate patients’ rights and promote measures to correct them.
Source: CNA
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