Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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279. To ask the Minister for Health if he will outline in detail all options available to citizens who feel they have been failed by the health services, this to include the role of internal Health Service Executive review mechanisms, the coroner's court, the Health Information and Quality Authority and the Ombudsman; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12744/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Health, patient safety is a major priority for me. This commitment is borne out by my decision to establish a new Patient Safety Agency (PSA). The PSA will be established initially on an administrative basis within the HSE structures in 2014. The HSE will establish a Board to oversee the PSA and agree its initial governance and operational arrangements. A key role for the PSA will be to provide national leadership for patient advocacy services. The HSE is expected to begin the process of recruiting an interim CEO for the PSA shortly.

An on-line information service called healthcomplaints.ie was launched in September, 2011. This initiative, which was developed by the Office of the Ombudsman in cooperation with a number of organisations including my Department and the HSE, provides information on how to make a complaint or give feedback about health and social care services in Ireland. This website has been developed for people who use health and social care services in Ireland, as well as for their families, care-givers and advocates.

I will now outline the avenues open to individuals to make a complaint about the health services.

1. HSE Complaints Process

Part 9 of the Health Act 2004 states that a person has the right to complain about any action of the Health Service Executive (HSE) or a service provider that they believe was not fair or had an adverse affect on them. The HSE has appointed designated Complaints Officers to ensure the effective management of complaints throughout their relevant areas of responsibility. The HSE actively encourages and promotes consumer feedback and links with customers on a regular basis to ensure that the complaint handling processes are effective, are being communicated and are achieving outcomes that are satisfactory to the consumers.

I believe that it is generally best that complaints are dealt with directly when they occur and all efforts made to resolve them locally with the patient or person that complains. The HSE continues to seek improvements in its complaint handling ability and capacity in order to respond to the needs of patients. If an individual is unhappy with the way in which his/her complaint was dealt with the National Advocacy Unit of the HSE will appoint an independent officer to review the complaint.

In addition to the complaints procedure outlined above, the HSE operates its ‘Risk and Incident Escalation Procedure’ overseen by its National Incident Management Team (NIMT) in cases where a national or integrated response is required.

2. Coroner

The Coroner is an independent official with legal responsibility to enquire into the circumstances of sudden, unexplained, violent and unnatural deaths. This may require a post-mortem examination, sometimes followed by an inquest. The Coroner essentially establishes the "who, when and how" of unexplained death. The coronial process comes under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality. The recently published Report of the CMO into Perinatal Deaths at HSE Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise (2006-date) recommended that guidelines for staff should be developed which provide information on the inquest process, detail expected behaviours and requirements for attendance. My Department will be engaging with the Department of Justice and Equality in respect of the Coronial service.

3. HIQA

I also have the power under Section 9 (2) of the Health Act 2007 to direct HIQA to undertake an immediate investigation into the safety, quality and standards of a health service provider where I believe that there is a serious risk to the health and welfare of a person receiving those services or where the risk may be the result of any act, failure to act or negligence on the part of the HSE, a service provider, the registered provider of a designated centre or the person in charge of a designated centre if other than its registered provider. A number of such investigations have taken place, with the most recent being the HIQA investigation into University Hospital Galway (October 2012).

4. Office of the Ombudsman

An individual may at any time refer a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman can examine complaints about the actions of a range of public bodies, including the HSE. In addition, since January 2007 he/she may also examine complaints about agencies delivering health and personal social services on behalf of the HSE. These agencies can include charitable organisations or voluntary bodies.

The Ombudsman can examine complaints about how staff of the HSE or other agencies carry out their everyday administrative activities when providing services to members of the public. These include complaints about delays or failing to take action. The Ombudsman deals with all complaints independently and impartially when judging whether the action or decision of the HSE or a service provider was fair and reasonable.

5. Professional Regulatory Bodies

Finally, if an individual is unhappy with the level of care provided by a health service employee such as a doctor, nurse or other regulated healthcare professional, he/she may make a complaint to that employee's professional regulatory body.