The country’s health watchdog is being swamped by complaints and struggling to keep up. It says a modest boost in resourcing will help, but must convince a Government cracking down on public sector spending. The Health and Disability Commission (HDC) is taking nearly 900 days on average to complete an investigation as it grapples with a huge rise in complaints since the Covid-19 pandemic .
The commission has been told - like all of the public sector - to live within its means, but has said to Parliament it will not be able to seriously address a massive backlog without more funding or resources. At a Health Committee last month, Health and Disability Commissioner Morag McDowell told MPs there had been a 40 per cent rise in complaints in the past three to four years. While much of that increase related to Covid-19 issues in 2022, the volume of complaints had not dipped again but was still growing.
“This increase has undoubtedly placed us as an organisation under significant pressure,” McDowell said. “The reality is that currently we cannot close as many complaints as we receive. “Regrettably that means delays are happening within our system.
” Annual reports show the rise in complaints has been driven by the pandemic, an under-pressure health and disability system, health reforms and “novel issues” which require more time and resources. About 11 per cent of unresolved complaints to the commission were more than two years old. Labour’s health spokeswoman Dr Aye.
