Submitting a patient complaint

If you are dissatisfied with medical treatment or believe that you have been treated incorrectly, you can lodge a patient complaint.
The first point of contact for inquiries and complaints from your policyholders is your health insurance fund if it is also the payer of the service.
To clarify the specific issue, the health insurance company will usually contact the Medical Association, the Dental Association, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists or the Bremen Hospital Association, depending on the area of responsibility.

The Medical Chamber is responsible for all complaints about doctors relevant to professional law and mediates in disputes between doctors and their patients arising from the treatment relationship. On the website of the Bremen Medical Association you will find relevant information on the procedure if you wish to complain about medical treatment.

The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians monitors compliance with the obligations of statutory health insurance physicians and is responsible for inquiries or complaints relating to the law on statutory health insurance physicians or the mandate to ensure the provision of medical care. On the website of the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung Bremen (Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians) you will find information on the procedure for submitting a complaint on the following topics: Prescription, sick note, medical certificate, prescription is refused, treatment is refused, breach of contract medical obligations, complaint about the on-call service of the KV Bremen or 116117, practice is not available.
On the website of the Chamber of Dentists you will find relevant information on patient counseling such as inquiries or complaints about dentists (Joint Patient Counseling Center of the Chamber of Dentists and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists Bremen).

If you would like to make suggestions, criticism or praise as a patient in hospital, you can usually contact the in-house quality and complaints management team.
In some hospitals, so-called patient advocates are also available to whom you can address your concerns. They work on a voluntary basis and are independent contacts.

You can also contact the Independent Patient Advisory Service Germany (UPD) with questions from all areas of medicine and social law. The advice and services provided by UPD are free of charge. The UPD advisors can be reached by telephone and online as well as at regional advice centers throughout Germany.
Nationwide patient hotline: 0800 0 11 77 22 (free of charge from all networks).

In the area of psychiatric clinics, you can also address your complaint to the senatorial authority. Your complaint will be dealt with as part of the specialist supervision of psychiatric clinics in the state of Bremen.

Requirements

No prerequisites need to be fulfilled.