Mr. John Farrelly:

As the Deputy can tell, I do not really understand why someone would think that we need an independent complaints body. All that would do would be to cause a rupture in quality improvement and in addressing the complaints of a person. If people in an approved centre are not treated properly, they can make a complaint, which must be brought through the complaints process. The provider is required by law to investigate it. We monitor that. To put it a different way, from a quality perspective, it is through complaints, learning and openness that services are improved. If that is taken away from providers, they will not necessarily improve their service. If the Ombudsman is not happy with the service, or if we find an issue with a centre not properly investigating complaints, we will identify that. We do not really find that. I do not think that this would be helpful in the legislation. I think that it would cause more confusion than it would solve.

I think it is more helpful for the legislation to address advocacy and for people to be welcome to complain. There should be a culture of complaining being a good thing, because that is how you improve the system. The advocates would help people to complain when they need to. It is the same as any other part of the health system. If you were in hospital in Tallaght and had a complaint, you would want to address that to the people looking after you in Tallaght and then escalate it. That is essentially what we are saying and our position.