Ontario's patient ombudsman says his office has seen a 33-per-cent increase in complaints, and noted a troubling trend with problems accessing primary care.
Craig Thompson has released his office's annual report today with its findings.
His office received more than 43-hundred complaints over the 2022/23 year.
Thompson says the data provide insight as to what is working and not working.
The patient ombudsman's role is to help resolve complaints from health-care patients and residents in long-term care homes and in home and community care.
The highest number of complaints, about half in total, involved hospitals, which was unsurprising, the report noted.
The ombudsman saw a significant drop in complaints that involved long-term care homes to 334 complaints this past year, compared to 858 in the heart of the pandemic two years prior.
Thompson is also concerned about the growing number of complaints outside its jurisdiction.