22% increase in complaints against doctors

COMPLAINTS against doctors increased by more than a fifth last year, but people in Ireland are still less likely to complain than people in Britain, according to the Medical Council.

The council received 361 complaints last year, a 22% increase on 2009, according a report published yesterday.

It points out that, with 8,770 doctors on its register in December 2010, on average one in every 49 received a complaint last year.