Complaints in healthcare are serious business.

Not only are patients and families increasingly likely to complain, the avenues for expressing dissatisfaction are more accessible and the consequences potentially greater.

However, the impact of complaints can be mitigated, and reframed as a beneficial opportunity for all concerned.

I recall one of my first complaints quite vividly. Naively empowered by all the knowledge and wisdom of a medical degree and one year as an intern, I felt omnipotent as I was unleashed upon a small rural community as an unsupervised hospital doctor.