Patientoption.org.au exposes the good and the bad of our hospitals A new website puts the standard of care at hospitals under scrutiny. A LUNG cancer misdiagnosed as a sore throat, a sudden death, and a missed foot fracture are among patient horror stories reported on a ground breaking new website. Patientopinion.org.au is an independent site that allows patients to alert the public about good and bad experiences of the health system. But those in charge of some of the nation's biggest hospitals are being blocked from using the system as governments prefer their own less transparent patient complaint systems. So far the website has reports on 360 patient experiences; around half are positive but many are shocking. One woman told the site her brother had lung cancer which had produced a massive tumour in his chest and also in his brain. "These symptoms appeared so obvious to me and yet he was told by this GP that he had a throat infection," she says. When her brother died and she tried to tell the doctor what had happened "he ran out of the clinic and took off!" she said. When a fit 67-year-old died suddenly at Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane relatives were told by staff: "We could not believe what was happening in front of us, the machine was not saying what was happening." A Melbourne mother was told by a doctor at Sandringham Hospital her daughter's foot had not been broken after it was run over. The patient was told to "take Panadol and walk it off" but the next afternoon the doctor called back to say there was a slight break and the foot needed to be set in plaster. The site is modelled on a UK initiative set up in the wake of the Mid-Staffordshire crisis where up to 1,200 patients were discovered to have died from poor hospital care over several years. The website is being run as a not-for-profit charity by Associate Professor Michael Greco from Griffith University and the Peninsula Medical School, UK. He says the organisation moderates the stories, posts them anonymously and gives health facilities and doctors a chance to respond on the website if they wish. "This is all about making it safe and easy for the public to comment on health services," he says. Medical horror stories website Patientopinion.org.au Source: Supplied While most of the states are co-operating with the site NSW is not. "While we recognise that websites like `Patient Opinion' do exist, we manage patient feedback via internal processes to ensure that both patient and staff privacy is maintained and that the best possible outcomes are reached," said Alison Starr, acting executive director of clinical governance at Western Sydney Local Health District. NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner told News Corporation that NSW Health was exploring interactive patient feedback models that complement rolling patient surveys conducted by the Bureau of Health Information including using tablet devices. "NSW public hospitals and local health districts have formal processes for handling patient complaints in a confidential manner," she said. Associate Professor Michael Greco. Picture: Jono Searle Source: News Limited Professor Greco says the problem with these systems is they lack transparency, there is no way for the public to find out what action was taken to correct mistakes and ensure they did not happen again. "They are fearful of not being in control," he says. Hospitals and health services can sign up to the website for a few thousand dollars and receive help managing complaints made about them.