Two Sides to Every Story: Complainants' and Doctors' Perspectives in Disputes about Medical Care in a General Practice Setting

The paper examines 110 complaints about general practitioners adjudicated by a health authority. This was a 10 percent subset of complaints received. Complainants' letters were analyzed in order to identify the issues complained about, who complained, what they wanted and how they structured their accounts. The most common single cause of complaint was the lack of a home visit but a third involved issues of diagnosis and treatment. Most people complained to get an investigation rather than for personal redress. Very few considered suing. Doctors, in their response to complaints adopted a number of defence strategies. In a minority of cases they stepped outside the bounds of professional behavior. In the light of impending changes in complaints systems in the U.K., it is argued that a forum for the expression of conflicting accounts remains.