Back"Tell us if mistakes have been made and don’t be afraid to complain” was the key message from the launch of Healthcomplaints, a public service initiative to help members of the public understand where and how to complain about health and social care services, launched on 19 September by Minister of State Roisin Shortall.
The Minister of State at the Department of Health with responsibility for Primary Care launched the initiative at a conference in Dublin Castle on How and Where to Complain about Heath and Social Care Services.
“It is important to stress that everyone has the right to make a complaint and be confident that the complaint will be dealt with fairly, properly and promptly. Making a complaint should be a straightforward procedure; there should be no underlying concern that a complaint will in any way impinge on the level of care provided. When a patient contacts your service to complain about a service received, it can be a blessing in disguise. Sometimes you will see a weakness in your services that can be rectified. This will prevent possible future complaints or problems down the line. It is an effective form of patient feedback, although one you hope to minimise. The goal should be to get few or no complaints at all,” said Minister Shortall, speaking at the launch.
Healthcomplaints is a toolkit which provides information and support about how and where to make complaints on services in health or social care. It consists of a guide for the public; a leaflet, a poster, a staff training guide and the website – www.healthcomplaints.ie.
This is the first time an initiative like this has been launched in Ireland. Speaking about how the initiative came about, the Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly said: “In June 2010, my Office decided to do something to try to make it easier for people to make a health and social care complaint. Around the same time HIQA published research that supported our experience of the health complaints culture in this country. The HIQA poll found that 84% of people with a complaint didn’t know who to complain to and 52% felt too intimidated to complain. We wrote to some ten organisations inviting them to participate in an initiative to provide a one stop shop of health complaint information. The outcome was a truly collaborative, wholehearted, innovative and voluntary initiative.”
Healthcomplaints is a collaboration between complaints handling bodies (the Office of the Ombudsman and Ombudsman for Children), health and social care providers (Health Service Executive), regulators of services (Health Information and Quality Authority, Mental Health Commission), professional regulators (The Medical Council, An Bord Altranais, Corú, PHECC) and service user representatives (the Irish Patients’ Association). It brings together 17 regulatory bodies and service providers.
“This initiative aims to empower people and wants to provide them with the information, direction and support they need to step forward in making their complaints. It is through learning from our mistakes that improvements can be made and patients can receive safer better care,” added Ombudsman O’Reilly.
Source: Office of the Ombudsman Ireland, 18 Lr. Leeson St., Dublin 2.
