Richard Bruton
Question:1457. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health if he has considered extending the role of HIQA to investigate individual complaints. [33432/21]
View answerTuesday, 27 July 2021
Questions (1457)
Written answers
The Department of Health is progressing the development of a policy to ultimately underpin a legislative scheme, regarding how clinical complaints and patient safety incidents are addressed in both public and private health and social care settings, placing the needs of patients and families at the centre of these processes.
The Department has commenced a range of work to inform this policy and better ascertain what patients, families and healthcare workers need from any reform of such processes. This work will incorporate a Programme for Government 2020 commitment to expand the remit of the Office of the Ombudsman to consider clinical decisions in health and social care complaints.
Background
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is an independent authority established to drive high-quality and safe care for people using our health and social care services in Ireland. HIQA’s role is to develop standards, inspect and review health and social care services and support informed decisions on how services are delivered. HIQA's role includes monitoring the safety and quality of health services and investigating as necessary serious concerns about the health and welfare of people who use these services.
HIQA does not investigate individual complaints, however the Department understands from HIQA that concerns it receives are used to inform its inspection and monitoring processes, informing the risk profile for the service and where appropriate are passed on to the relevant bodies.
Under the Health Act 2007, HIQA is responsible for developing standards for the quality and safety of healthcare services and for monitoring compliance with those standards. Under the Act, HIQA also has responsibility to investigate the safety, quality and standards of healthcare services if it believes that there is a serious risk to the health and welfare of patients.
Persons who have an individual complaint about a service can do this by contacting the person in charge of delivering the service or a complaints officer within the service.
Detailed information on how to make a complaint or give feedback about health and social care services in Ireland can be found at www.healthcomplaints.ie. This service has been developed for people who use health and social care services in Ireland, as well as for their families, care-givers and advocates. The HSE has an established mechanism to enable the making of a complaint through the Your Service, Your Say process. In addition, the Ombudsman also has a role in the investigation of individual complaints, as do professional regulatory bodies such as the Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. The appropriate pathway for making a complaint is dependent on the particular issue of concern.
Question No. 1458 answered with Question No. 1437.