Patients' voices about primary healthcare via comments and complaints to patient committee

Description

Sweden is striving towards a primary care-driven healthcare system. The goals are person-centered care, increased patient participation and strengthened continuity of care. For inpatient care, patients report dissatisfaction with healthcare staff's communication, treatment, information and participation. These risks may lower patient trust in healthcare. What feedback patients report regarding primary healthcare is more unknown, despite a potential knowledge source for development and strengthened patient safety. Patients in Sweden have a unique opportunity to submit views and complaints to healthcare via statutory patient committees and 1177.se. Against this background, the present project studies 436 randomly selected patient committee cases regarding primary healthcare, which were received and concluded 20221101-20241031. In focus are reasons for cases, primary healthcare context, reason for contact, professions involved and healthcare provider feedback. The results on patients' voices regarding primary healthcare may contribute to primary healthcare development regarding optimal and near primary healthcare.