Complaints on Health Services: A Survey of Persons With Disabilities

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which people with disabilities express their voices and present complaints about the quality of health services, and how their complaints are submitted, compared to nondisabled persons. Data were collected via two national surveys from 243 people with disabilities and 956 nondisabled respondents in Israel who perceived themselves to be aggrieved by their health providers. People with disabilities complained only slightly more often than nondisabled persons, and the majority of complaints were submitted locally and informally by both groups. Since people with disabilities use health services more frequently than nondisabled persons, the fact that a majority of customers with disabilities remains silent causes the health system to lose important information regarding areas for redress or for service recovery. The results have implications for needed actions by health providers and outreach efforts by advocacy groups as well as for further policy and research directions that can improve the quality of health services to people with disabilities.