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Cyprus: Armed Forces

Volume 474: debated on Wednesday 26 March 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many complaints have been received from (a) service personnel and (b) dependents of service personnel about treatment received after referral by a service doctor to hospitals in Cyprus in each of the last 10 years. (194946)

The majority of complaints received by Commander Medical BFC concerning either The Princess Mary hospital (TPMH, based at RAF Akrotiri) or one of the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) medical facilities are resolved locally and to the satisfaction of the complainant. TPMH operate a robust complaints procedure which is based on the equivalent NHS processes.

Records are available for 1999-2007 concerning treatment received in civilian medical facilities in the Republic of Cyprus. In this period there have been a total of 22 complaints (six from service personnel and 16 from dependents) recorded.

Complaints recorded as being made by service personnel

Complaints recorded as being made by dependents

1999

0

1

2000

0

1

2001

0

2

2002

0

1

2003

0

0

2004

0

1

2005

2

5

2006

2

3

2007

2

2

During the same time frame 137 complaints were made against TPMH itself (58 by service personnel and 79 by dependents):

Complaints recorded as being made by service personnel

Complaints recorded as being made by dependents

1999

5

12

2000

5

3

2001

3

7

2002

5

10

2003

10

10

2004

7

9

2005

10

14

2006

7

7

2007

6

7

The incidence of complaints made by service personnel and their dependents concerning medical care in Cyprus (both complaints against RoC medical facilities and TPMH) is broadly comparable to the incidence of complaints received by the NHS in England when allowance for the very different size of patient population is made.