Exploring experiences and attitudes about health care complaints among pregnant women, mothers and staff at an Opioid Treatment Service

Abstract

There is little information about managing frontline complaints with opioid-dependent women. Semistructured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 13 opioid-dependent women and 10 staff at an Opioid Treatment Service. A multidisciplinary team conducted a thematic analysis on the transcripts. Difficulties that prevented women making complaints included the anticipation of not being taken seriously, the fear of repercussions including infant removal, and practical difficulties in making written complaints. Staff reported that complaints at the dosing window were often delivered emotively and could be personalised. They had difficulty assessing complaints to determine whether there were substantive health care issues that should be followed up. Women and staff believed that case managers had a role in providing support for the complaints process.