If a complaint contains allegations which constitute potential criminal behaviour, we cannot investigate the complaint, which must be urgently referred to An Garda Siochana.
Practice Complaint Policy
It is the aim of this Medical Practice to provide the best medical care and attention to each of our patients. We are aware that occasionally we may not meet all your expectations and there will be times when patients and/or their families or carers may wish to express dissatisfaction with the care provided at this practice.
It is the policy of this practice to do our best to resolve all complaints as quickly as possible.
All complaints, whether written or verbal, are taken seriously and handled appropriately, confidentially, and sensitively by our doctors, nurses, and administrative staff and any other healthcare providers working at this practice.
It is the policy of this practice to safeguard the rights and dignity of all patients and staff members when implementing this policy. We are committed to learning from any complaints, comments or suggestions made so that we may improve the care and service provided to our patients.
Language
This practice uses the English language, and we do not have the facility to offer medical other services in other languages, unless expressly offered. Consequently, we can only address complaints raised in the English language, unless expressly agreed in advance.
Open Disclosure
This practice is committed to a policy of open disclosure of all relevant information concerning any deficiency in treatment and/or care to our patients. We are committed to informing our patients and their family or carers in an open, honest, and transparent manner, if we identify any shortcoming in their care and/or treatment.
Apology
As part of our policy of open disclosure, we are committed to offering an apology where we have failed to meet our commitments to our patients.
Complaints
It is our policy to investigate and resolve all complaints as soon as possible and each of our doctors, nurses, other health care professionals and/or administrative staff will address and deal with any complaints as efficiently as possible, with courtesy, and respecting the dignity of our patients.
Anonymous Complaints
It is not possible to investigate anonymous complaints. If you wish to raise a complaint with this practice, please follow the guidance set out in this document which is designed to address any complaints which may arise as early as possible.
Confidentiality
All information which is obtained by this practice in response to and during investigation of a complaint is treated in a confidential manner and in accordance with our obligations under the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2003 and in accordance with the Medical Council and Nursing & Midwifery Board Guidelines.
Consent
If a complaint is made on behalf of a patient by someone else, this practice requires a signed consent from the patient, specifically appointing the complainant to raise the specific complaint with this practice. In addition, the patient must separately confirm consent to the complainant being provided with information (which may contain otherwise confidential health care information and/or medical records) and/or response regarding the specific matter the subject of the complaint.
Principles
The principles on which our Practice Complaint Policy is based are openness, fairness, transparency, dignity, respect, accessibility, honesty, impartiality, and accountability.
Openness, Fairness & Transparency
The investigation of complaints at this practice will be conducted in an open, fair, and transparent manner. We aim to manage all complaints in a consistent and standard manner and no patient should fear recrimination for raising an issue of concern to them. We welcome complaints made by, or on behalf of, patients as these enable us to improve the quality of care and services provided at this practice.
Dignity & Respect
It is our aim that all patients are treated with respect and dignity at this practice, and we expect that our patients and/or complainants or families will treat us in a similar manner.
Accessibility
As a medical practice we are committed to ensuring that our Practice Complaint Policy and procedures are accessible to all patients and their families. We are aware that some of our patients may have healthcare and/or other needs which we are committed to addressing with dignity during the operation of this Complaints Policy. Patients with such needs are not limited to, but include older persons, children, persons with physical, learning and/or sensory disabilities and patients with literacy issues.
Honesty & Fairness
We will address all complaints in an honest, and fair manner.
Impartiality
We commit to dealing with and addressing all complaints in an impartial manner. Where appropriate, the complainant shall be asked to meet with and discuss the complaint with our Practice Complaint Officer, or other senior member of staff not directly involved in the complaint, who will investigate the complaint and, where appropriate, seek a response from any medical practitioner, nurse or other staff member who is the subject of the complaint.
Accountability
Where the investigation of a complaint finds a complaint to be upheld and makes recommendations to address any issues raised in the complaint, the recommendations will be implemented insofar as may be practicable and possible, without delay. Where issues relating to patient care or safety arise, these shall be given priority and shall be addressed as soon as possible.
Complaints may be made orally, or in writing, and are welcomed as part of our policy of improving the service offered to patients.
If your complaint relates to your care and/or treatment, please ensure that you raise any such issues with us. We need to receive such feedback to ensure that we can improve the care of patients attending this practice.
If you have an issue which you wish to raise with us, in the first instance please bring it to the attention of a member of staff. You may either speak to a member of staff, or alternatively you may prefer to write to us, and either hand the letter to a member of staff, or post or email it to us.
All complaints received at this practice are kept separate from patient records and are maintained in a Complaint Log on a confidential basis in accordance with the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2003 and the Medical Council and Nursing & Midwifery Board Guidelines.
Oral Complaints
By their nature some oral complaints can be resolved by immediate action. As a result, our reception staff or doctor receiving such a complaint will attempt to resolve the complaint immediately.
If immediate resolution of the oral complaint cannot be achieved to the satisfaction of the complainant, we will make a record of the complaint in writing and provide a copy to the complainant. That written record then becomes the complaint and will be addressed like written complaints.
Timeframe in which to make a complaint:
It is our policy that all complaints should be made as soon as possible, and within 12 months of the event giving rise to the complaint. If a complaint is made more than 12 months from the date on which the event to subject of the complaint occurred, we will investigate it, if the complainant establishes good reasons for not making the complaint earlier. It should be noted however it may not be possible to investigate some complaints properly after the passage of time.
Preliminary Investigation
On receipt and acknowledgment of your complaint, our Practice Complaint Officer shall conduct a preliminary investigation to establish:
• That the person making the complaint is entitled to make the complaint.
• That the complaint relates to matters which are the responsibility of this practice
• That the complaint is not trivial
• That the complaint is not malicious or vexatious
• That the complaint has not already been investigated and resolved
• That the complaint should not be addressed by a party other than this practice.
If the complaint requires further investigation, we shall endeavour to address it and resolve any issues arising as quickly as possible.
Investigation of Complaints
We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint at the first opportunity, and within 5 working days.
Your complaint will be passed to our Practice Complaint Officer, or other senior member of staff, for investigation.
We will commence investigations within 14 days, when you should receive an invitation to meet us to attempt to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, or you may receive a formal written reply.
On commencement of the investigation, we shall, where appropriate, advise you of the anticipated nature and extent of the investigation(s), who shall carry out the investigation(s), and the anticipated time frame to complete inquiries.
Throughout investigation of the complaint, we will strictly apply the rules of medical confidentiality, as required by the Medical Council, subject only to any consent which you may provide to share information with any person (or patient organisation) you may have appointed to make the complaint on your behalf.
When investigating your complaint, our Practice Complaint Officer shall endeavour to:
• Find out what occurred, and what if anything, went wrong.
• To identify why the complaint occurred.
• Shall discuss what occurred with all concerned.
• Where something went wrong, we will apologise where appropriate.
• We will identify any steps we can take or actions we can do, to ensure that any problems identified do not occur again.
When a complaint is made concerning a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional or member of staff, the person complained of will be advised of the complaint and will be provided with an opportunity to respond to the complaint, and where appropriate answer any questions which arise, and they shall be kept informed of the progress of the investigation.
At the conclusion of the investigation(s), the person complained of shall be provided with the results of the investigation(s) and where produced, a copy of the Final Report.
Results of Investigation
The Complainant, or their representative, will be informed of the result of the investigation of the complaint.
It may be appropriate to meet the patient/complainant to advise them of the outcome to the investigation, and where appropriate offer an apology, and discuss the steps we can take, or actions we can do, to ensure that any problems or issues which have been identified do not occur again.
At the conclusion of the Complaint Process, and if the patient/complainant does not wish to meet, a written Final Report of the complaint shall be prepared. This shall recite the issues identified in the complaint, the results of the investigation(s), and the recommendations made, and actions taken, to reduce the risk of a reoccurrence of the issues giving rise to the complaint.
The Final Report shall be securely retained within this practice, in the confidential Practice Complaint Log which shall be retained for three years from the date of completion of investigations and the date of issue of the Final Report, in accordance the Data Protection Acts 1988 to 2003 and the Medical Council and Nursing & Midwifery Board Guidelines.
Appeals
Where a complainant is not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint or if the complainant is not satisfied with the investigations carried out, the complainant has 28 days from the date of the response letter and Final Report to contact the Practice Complaint Officer and formally request an Appeal. Appeals shall be addressed by our Appeals Manager, who shall be the most senior Medical Practitioner not the subject of the Complaint and not involved in the initial investigations. The Appeal process is designed to review how the complainant’s original concerns were investigated and handled. Where an Appeal is not possible the complainant shall be advised to consider referring the complaint to one of the statutory bodies set out below.
Where an Appeal takes place, the Appeals Manager will not reinvestigate the complaint but may refer the complaint, or aspects of the complaint, back for reinvestigation.
The Appeals Manager will consider and respond to the appeal within 28 days from receipt of the complainant’s appeal letter. The Appeals Manager may make the following decisions:
• uphold the appeal;
• not uphold the appeal; or
• ask for the complaint to be reinvestigated either locally or externally.
If the Appeals Manager decision is to uphold the grounds of the appeal, the Appeals Manager will either communicate the decision to the complainant, or, if the Appeal Manager believes the complaint should be addressed by an independent authority the Appeal Manager will refer the complaint accordingly.
If the complainant remains unhappy with the outcome of the Investigations and, where appropriate, any Appeal the Complainant may bring the complaint to one of the statutory bodies who may investigate complaints. These include: -
Medical Council.
Kingram House
Kingram Place
Dublin 2
D02 XY88
Phone: 01 4983100
Email: info@mcirl.ie
Nursing and Midwifery Bord of Ireland.
18/20 Carysfort Avenue,
Blackrock,
Co. Dublin,
A94 R299
Phone: (01) 639 8500
Email: complaints@nmbi.ie
Web: www.nmbi.ie
CORU
George's Court,
Infinity Building,
George's Lane,
Smithfield,
Dublin 7,
D07 E98Y
Phone: (01) 293 3160
Email: info@coru.ie
Web: www.coru.ie
Our Practice Complaint Officer is Dr Paul Keating. If he is unavailable, or if he is the subject of the complaint you wish to make, please address your complaint to the Practice Manager, marked “complaint”, and it will be addressed by another senior member of staff.
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