Organization : Healthcomplaints.ie
Type of Facility : Complaints Options For Public Patients
Country: Ireland
Website : healthcomplaints [dot] ie
Complaints Options For Public Patients :
Healthcomplaints.ie :
Healthcomplaints.ie provides information on how to make a complaint or give feedback about health and social care services in Ireland. This website has been developed for people who use health and social care services in Ireland, as well as for their families, care-givers and advocates.
Related :Medical Council Ireland Making a Complaint : www.statusin.org/11962.html
If you have a complaint or comment about your care, healthcomplaints.ie will help you to find the right place to give your feedback.
How to use healthcomplaints.ie:
Each of the options on the menu above sets out how to make a particular complaint, for example, where you can complain about a doctor in a private hospital (go to Hospitals > Private hospitals > Doctors in private hospitals), or where you can complain about a hearing service in a Health Service Executive (HSE) health centre (go to Community Based Services > Hearing service > Hearing service – organised by the HSE). Each page includes links to the relevant organisations’ complaints procedures and contact details.
The complaints procedures for specific organisations can also be reached from any page on the website by using the link at the bottom right of each page, Specific complaints procedures.
The links to the right provide information that should help you to make your complaint, for example, case studies, sample letters and a checklist to make sure you have included all the information needed.
Complaints Options For Public Patients:
For nearly all types of complaint, you should complain locally as a first step.
After that, your options are different, depending on whether you were treated as a public patient or as a private patient. If you were treated as a public patient, the HSE is responsible for your care.
You can find out more in our page, ‘Public patient or private patient?‘
Option 1: Complain locally
Service providers are the people and organisations that provide your health and social care. Examples include health centres, hospitals, GPs (family doctors), dentists, physiotherapists, opticians and social workers.
For nearly all types of complaint, the first place you should complain is directly to the service provider.
The HSE has a complaints procedure called Your Service Your Say. You can expect an update on your complaint within 30 days.
You can find out more in our page on Your Service Your Say.
Option 2: Request a Health Service Executive (HSE) review
If you are unhappy with the initial response from the Complaints Officer, you can ask for a review from the HSE Director of Advocacy, or you can take your complaint directly to the Ombudsman or the Ombudsman for Children.
You can find out more in our page on Your Service Your Say.
Option 3: Complain to the Ombudsman or the Ombudsman for Children
The Ombudsman and the Ombudsman for Children are independent organisations which can investigate complaints about services provided by or on behalf of the Health Service Executive (HSE) or agencies, such as charities and voluntary bodies, that deliver health and social services on behalf of the HSE.
If you were treated as a public patient and you are not happy with how the HSE is handling your complaint, you should contact the Ombudsman or the Ombudsman for Children.
Find out more in our page on complaining to the Ombudsman and complaining to the Ombudsman for Children.
Option 4: Contact a regulator
Regulators have responsibility for protecting the quality and safety of health and social care services. Regulators can regulate different things, for example, they can be responsible for health professionals, for health service quality or for medicines.
** Professional regulators include the Medical Council, The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, the Opticians Board and CORU.
** Service quality regulators include the Mental Health Commission and the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).
** Medicines and healthcare product regulators include the Irish Medicines Board and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).
If you have a complaint about a health professional or a healthcare service, it may be appropriate to complain to a regulator. Most of the regulators can take a complaint from a member of the public, but there are restrictions on how some of the regulators can handle that complaint.
View the complaints procedures for these organisations.
Option 5: Get legal advice
If you feel your complaint is particularly serious, you may wish to get legal advice on your complaint. It is recommended to always get legal advice before you begin legal action.