Cyprus' newly established Patient Rights Officers recorded 534 complaints and requests during their first four months of operation, with concerns focusing on quality of care, waiting times, unnecessary inconvenience and access to information, Patient Ombudsman Marios Charalambides told CNA.
Between May and August, 2026, 293 written complaints and 241 verbal requests were recorded, averaging more than 130 cases a month. The written complaints contained 843 references to possible violations of patients' rights.
Around one in five written complaints concerned Accident and Emergency departments.
Almost a year after taking office, Charalambides described the complaints mechanism as "a useful tool", while stressing that individual complaints alone do not provide a complete picture of patients' rights in Cyprus.
"The public has started using the mechanism," he said. "I expect its use to increase over time."
Quality of care
Quality of care was the most frequently cited issue, accounting for 98 references, or 33% of written complaints. Charalambides said the category extended beyond medical errors to include negligence, service quality, continuity of care and the handling of individual cases.
Respect for patients' time was the second most common concern, with 88 references, while 80 complaints related to unnecessary inconvenience and pain.
Charalambides said there could be no universal definition of a reasonable waiting time because circumstances vary from case to case, although clear limits and guidelines were necessary.
A&E units
Referring to emergency departments, he said shortcomings remained both in patient transfers and referrals and in the care provided within A&E units.
"Some action has been taken, but we are not at a point where anyone could say the issue has been resolved," he said.
Nearly half of the complaints relating to emergency departments concerned unnecessary inconvenience and pain. He also stressed the importance of keeping patients informed while waiting for treatment.
"It is not only the waiting time itself. It is also what information I receive while I am waiting," he said.
Receiving and understanding information
Information provision was cited in 71 written complaints, or 24% of the total. Charalambides said patients should not only receive information but also understand it before giving consent to treatment.
"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 whether patients sometimes consent to treatment without fully understanding what is involved, he replied: "There have been, and still are, such cases."
According to the data, 62% of written complaints and 58% of verbal requests concerned the public healthcare sector. However, Charalambides cautioned against direct comparisons with the private sector, citing differences in patient numbers, case complexity and services provided.
District Complaints Review Committees, which serve as the final stage of the complaints process, became operational on October 1. Patients dissatisfied with the response of a Patient Rights Officer can request a review by the relevant committee, which must complete its examination within one month.
Charalambides said healthcare problems are often interconnected and cannot be addressed separately.
"Quality, time, inconvenience and information go together," he said, stressing the need for coordinated action to identify and address practices that infringe patients' rights.
Source: CNA
