For the fifth consecutive year, the Commissioner for Health under the Office of the Ombudsman has complained about “the great delay in receiving replies and feedback from the Department of Health”.

“The Commissioner repeatedly commented about this lack of cooperation, in his last four annual reports, notwithstanding this, there has been no progress whatsoever,” the Ombudsman’s Office’s annual report says.

Delayed replies and feedback mean that remedies take that much longer to reach a complainant and justice therefore fails to be served.

In the cases were a complaint made by a member of the general public or a public health worker was upheld, meaning that the complaint was found to be valid, Health Commissioner Charles Messina  found that recommendations were either left in a state of disuse or suspension, or were rejected altogether.

“The Commissioner had submitted for approval a number of cases but, in spite of the fact that he [Health Commissioner] felt complainants were in the right, yet his recommendations were either not accepted or kept in abeyance indefinitely. This is frustrating and unfair on complainants. In last year’s Annual Report, the Commissioner had reiterated that ‘justice delayed is justice denied.”

The Health Commissioner believes that, “notwithstanding this criticism and constant appeal to the authorities to act on his recommendations, even though the majority of the complaints are accepted...the remedies given to citizens by the Ombudsman Act to safeguard their rights fall short of giving the desired results.”

The Commissioner for Health is empowered to investigate complaints made about Malta’s public healthcare system, both by the general public or by employees of the public health system. In 2016, the number of complaints received increased by eight per cent over 2015. Complaints made by the general public to the Health Commissioner went from 41 in 2015 to 25 in 2016, while complaints made by employees where 35 in 2015 to 37 in 2016.

The most complaints received by the Office of the Ombudsman that fall under the Health Commissioner’s remit were in relation to the Health Ministry in 2016, at 68. The Public Service Commission is next, with 10 complaints, followed by the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity with two complaints. There was one complaint against the Ministry for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties, and one made in relation to ARMS ltd, the state utility billing service.

During the period 1 January – 31 December 2016 the Health Commissioner had received some 82 complaints, 48 of which were concluded, while 27 of those 48 were either partly or fully upheld. As outlined in the conclusions of Commissioner Messina, recommendations ignored or rejected by relevant authorities have delayed justice being delivered to complainants.

A total of 34 cases have been left pending, primarily due to a lack of replies from the Department of Health. Out of the 34 cases, 12 have been pending for over six months, with four pending for over nine months.

The Ministry for Health tops the list of pending feedback by 29, amounting to 85 per cent, which are pending some sort of reply or feedback in order to continue investigating the case. Apart from topping the list of entities that have feedback pending, the Health Ministry also tops the list for the total number of pending complaints. The Health Ministry has 40 pending complaints (83 per cent), while there are a total of 48 pending complaints that fall under the remit of the Health Commissioner. There has been one particular case where a complaint made about the Health Ministry has been pending since 2013.

Complaints put forward by citizens who alleged that they had not been given the entitled medicine in 2016 amounted to 40 per cent of the cases investigated by the Commissioner.

The most common complaint raised by staff working within the Public Health Sector, for the second consecutive year, to employment selection process – complaints made by employees who were told that they are ineligible to apply for a specific call for application.

In its conclusions, the Commissioner for Health stressed the need for better responses so that concerns raised by the general public and public health workers can be seen to as quickly as possible. The Commissioner recommended the introduction of time frames for complaints to be responded to.