Independent complaints office in psychiatry
According to the recommendations of the DGSP ( German Society for Social Psychiatry ) and a government commissioner ( commissioner of the federal government for the interests of patients ), independent complaints offices in psychiatry are necessary for quality assurance in diagnosis and treatment by psychiatrists . Following these recommendations, the complaints office should
- Process complaints, suggestions or questions in connection with accommodation, medical treatment, therapy or psychosocial care in a specified region with the aim of finding an amicable solution
- be the contact person for employees of services and institutions in the area of responsibility who want to remedy grievances through this intermediary and cannot do this alone.
Existing independent complaints offices
A list of all the independent complaints offices in psychiatry registered by the DGSP is available on the Internet. The DGSP has found from the annual reports of individual complaints offices that most of the complaints relate to personal misconduct by individual employees, especially in the inpatient area, and that the overriding of the right to self-determination is often criticized here.
Allegedly, most of the clinical complaints (in addition to personal misconduct by the staff) are related to coercive measures. Although a curator ad litem should be used at the judicial hearing to decide on coercive measures (Section 67 FGG Paragraph 1), who represents the interests of the person concerned, this does not always happen in a satisfactory manner. Often no guard ad litem is present and the person concerned is not made aware that he has the right to call in someone he trusts and who represents his interests. It sometimes happens that the guardianship judge brings along a curator ad litem to decide on a coercive measure, but who does not even know the person concerned and therefore cannot speak in his favor.
Organizational forms
According to the recommendation of the DGSP, such a complaints office should have one of the following organizational forms:
- A loose association of individual interested persons who are interested in offering support in the event of a complaint. (This warns against the complaints office being unreliable.)
- A permanent association of interested persons who give themselves certain rules through rules of procedure, which they undertake to comply with. (This warns of a lack of flexibility in the number of people handling the complaints.)
- A non-profit association that seeks to establish and bind a group of supporters who do not have to be actively involved in complaint work, but can nonetheless promote it in an ideal way (with public relations). Financial support for the complaints office through donations would be easier here, as these would be tax deductible.
- Connection as a group with a cooperation agreement that defines the independent status to another non-profit association. This would eliminate the task of looking for a responsible board member and the sponsoring association could set up its own account for the complaints office and its own telephone connection, which would be permanent.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Counselor of the DGSP on independent complaints offices in psychiatry, http://www.beschwerde-psychiatrie.de/download/Ratgeber.pdf
- ↑ complaint-psychiatrie.de
- ↑ Section 67, Paragraph 1 of the FGG (Law on the Matters of Voluntary Jurisdiction): "As far as this is necessary to protect interests, the court appoints the person concerned a carer for the proceedings."