THE ROTUNDA HOSPITAL’S refusal to investigate a complaint made by a couple over the death of their newborn baby because it was made outside of a 12 month window is amongst the cases flagged in the annual report from the Ombudsman for Irish public services.
The couple contacted the Ombudsman, Ger Deering, over the hospital’s refusal to deal with a complaint that was made outside of its 12 month limit, and to report their “poor experience” at the hospital during the birth of their baby.
They explained that the period since the loss of their child had been extremely difficult for them, and that the process of preparing their complaint was “emotionally challenging”. They were also unaware of the 12 month limit, and said that some of the issues they were complaining about occurred during that time frame.
The couple said they met with the hospital but felt that all of their concerns had not been adequately addressed. The hospital refused to grant them an exemption to the time limit for complaints. It said that the longer the time period between events occurring and investigations happening, the less likely staff are to “have any recollection of events”.
The Ombudsman raised concerns that the hospital did not make an exception for the couple, and said that it acted unfairly.
He said that the loss of a child is “devastating”, and that it is understandable that the couple may have needed more time to make their complaint. Deering asked the hospital to review its decision.
On review the hospital agreed to accept the complaint and to contact the couple, who were satisfied with this outcome, and that their complaint would finally be addressed.
The Ombudsman received 4,465 complaints about public services in 2023, which is up 30% since 2020. The highest number of complaints related to city and county councils (1,430), with 189 complaints about Dublin City Council, and 152 about Cork City Council.
Government departments were subject to 1,175 complaints, with the Department of Social Protection being the most complained about (636 complaints).
Public bodies in the Health and Social care sector were the subject of 839 complaints, including 674 about HSE services and 134 about Tusla.
Complaints were also made against Publicly funded bodies in other sectors including third-level education bodies and private nursing homes.
A complaint was lodged about the outdated appointments system in St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, resulting in an appointment for a transplant patient not being made, and their cancer diagnosis being delayed.
In that case, the woman, Marie, said that a mix-up in referral letters resulted in important medical appointments not being made for her, and her cancer diagnosis being delayed by up to eight months.
On two occasions, printed referral letters went missing and Marie was not notified of appointments as a result. When Marie raised concerns, she was given an appointment eight months later, and an abnormality that was spotted in a previous general checkup was discovered to be malignant and cancerous.
The ombudsman investigated this complaint and found the hospital’s system for issuing referral letters and ensuring they were followed up was deficient.
As a result, the hospital has implemented a new internal electronic referral system.
It apologised to Marie for the failures and difficulties that she encountered.
In another case, a man who was not properly informed of his pension entitlements by the Department of Social Protection missed out on pension payments of €46,000 over four years.
You can read the Ombudsman’s report in full here. If you have been impacted by any of the issues raised here and you want to share your experience, you can contact eimermcauley@thejournal.ie.
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