Complaints about the health service in Ireland have risen by more than a quarter in the past twelve months according to figures released by the Health Service Executive (HSE).
6,613 complaints in total were received during 2012 by the HSE, of which 3,049 related directly to the treatment patients received during the year – a rise of 27 percent over the 2,388 received in 2011 in the same category.
The total number of complaints about the health service in Ireland included 805 about avoidable delays in treatment and waiting times for medical attention, and more than 600 were made in relation to the attitude of hospital staff and their reluctance to communicate.
Further increases were identified in the number of complaints about clinical judgement (up almost 37 percent) while others referred to nursing homes, infection control, cancellation of appointments and hospital accommodation and food.
Possibly due to the significant increase in the number of complaints about patients´ treatment, only 69 percent of the total number of complaints was dealt with within the thirty day limit promised by the HSE, and the largest number of complaints (2,089) originated from the HSE South region.
Note about Health Service Complaints in Ireland
Not all Health Service complaints in Ireland develop into injury compensation claims, but the procedure has to be completed within one year of receiving sub-standard care if you wish to claim compensation for a loss, an injury or the avoidable deterioration of an existing condition due to the negligence of a medical practitioner.
The nature of your injury – and whether you were a public or private patient at the time – will determine how and where the complaint should be made and, to avoid possible contradictions when you later make a claim for medical negligence compensation, you complaint should always be made after seeking legal advice from an experienced medical negligence solicitor.