Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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216. To ask the Minister for Health the reason a person (details supplied) in County Kerry was waiting for 12 hours in accident and emergency in Kerry General Hospital before being admitted to a bed where they subsequently passed away; the intervention that was provided for the person; if their death could have been prevented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32362/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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At the outset, I would like to express my sympathy to the family of the person the Deputy mentions in this question. However, as the Deputy will appreciate, due to patient confidentiality, I am unable to discuss individual cases, including that of the patient involved. The Deputy may nonetheless wish to know that I have been advised by the HSE that if the family of the patient contact the hospital general manager's office, the management of the hospital are more than willing to engage with them to address any concerns they may have.

If the family do not wish to do so, a formal complaints can be made under the HSE complaints policy, entitled Your Service Your Say details of which are on the HSE website, at www.hse.ie/eng/services/ysys/Complaint. In addition, advice and instructions for making complaints about a service or an individual may be found at www.healthcomplaints.ie.

In accordance with this procedure, a complaint must be made in the first instance, to the hospital in which the incident causing the complaint occurred. In the case of Kerry General Hospital, the complaint can be addressed to:

General Manager's Office,

Kerry General Hospital,

Raghass,

Tralee, Co.Kerry.

If an individual is not satisfied with the response from the hospital, a review can be sought from the HSE Director of Advocacy and the Ombudsman, whose details are set out below.

HSE Director of Advocacy

Oak House

Millennium Park

Naas

Co Kildare

Tel 1890 424 555

Office of the Ombudsman

18, Lower Leeson Street

Dublin 2

Tel 1890 223 030

Email:

I have asked the HSE to also contact you directly on this matter.