Cyprus patients' advocate logs 534 complaints in first four months
More than 500 complaints and requests reached the patients' advocate office between May and August 2026, with care quality the single largest category.
Cyprus's patients' ombudsman received 534 complaints and requests in the four months from May to August 2026, as reported by Cyprus Mail. Of these, 293 came in writing and 241 were made verbally — an average above 130 per month.
Roughly a third of the written complaints, 98 in total, centred on the standard of care, covering not only medical errors but also negligence and how cases were handled. Waiting times ranked second, unnecessary suffering and pain third, and the accident and emergency department fourth, at about two in ten complaints.
Ombudsman Marios Charalambides said the figures showed the mechanism was now being used, though he stressed that individual cases do not give a full picture of patients' rights in the Republic.
"The issues raised concern waiting times, patient inconvenience, procedures, management and service," he said.
What it means for residents
A functioning complaints channel matters if you or a relative end up in a state hospital, because it turns a bad experience into something on record rather than a story told to friends. Since 1 October, patients unhappy with the ombudsman's written reply can ask a district complaints examination committee to look at the case again.
- Keep paperwork. Written complaints carry more weight than verbal ones and are the route to a district review.
- Note the clock. A request for review must be filed with reasons, and the committee then has one month from receiving it to reassess.
- Expect slow fixes. Waiting times and A&E transfers are recurring themes, so plan extra time for hospital visits.
This text is written from the source article and is not a translation of it.
