River Clare Family Practice
Help us to reach the highest standards by having your say!
Your comments are important. We welcome feedback, both positive and negative. Please let us know if there is something we are doing well or if there is anything we could try to do better.
We know that you might not want to give feedback in person, so you can fill in this form instead. You can also write a letter or an email. We look at all comments that come in and we try to make improvements based on feedback.
We need to know if you have a complaint about our care so that we can try to resolve the issue and try to learn lessons. This helps us to improve the care of our patients. We have a written procedure to make sure that we manage complaints to the highest standard.
Step 1
How do I make a complaint?
There are three ways to make a complaint.
• Fill in the form and pop it into our post box outside or post it into us (form is not totally necessary, you can write to use, just please include your name and DOB), or for third party complaints use this form ie if you are making a complaint on behalf of someone else.
• Send us a letter or email info@riverclarefamilypractice.com
• Telephone us 091 395 005 and talk to your GP or to any member of staff
In the interests of fairness, we cannot deal with anonymous complaints. If you want us to deal with your complaint, you must give us your name. When we look into a complaint, we treat everyone with dignity and respect and we would ask you to do the same as we go through the process.
Step 2
What will happen next?
We will try to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.
• We will let you know that we received your complaint within 5 working days
We take patient confidentiality very seriously. If you want to make a complaint but you are not the patient involved, we will need written consent (permission) from the patient to say that you can deal with the complaint and that we can discuss their medical details with you.
• We aim to have looked into the complaint within 10 working days.
• You will receive a written answer or we might ask you to meet us to discuss your complaint.
Some complaints are serious or complicated and mean that we have to hold an investigation. If this arises, we will tell you. We will tell you how the investigation will work, who will be in charge of it and how long it will take. If we need to do an investigation, we will aim to finish it in 30 days. If we
think it will take longer, we will tell you why and we will talk to you about this. You will be able to talk to us about the process. You can bring a friend or relative to any meeting.
Step 3
When we look into a complaint, we try to:
• Treat everyone involved with courtesy and respect.
• Find out what happened and what went wrong and why
• Identify any frivolous or vexatious complaints that are without merit
• Give you the opportunity to discuss the problem with the staff member(s) involved
• Give you an apology if this is the right thing to do
• Take steps to make sure the problem does not happen again
We hope that we will be able to resolve your complaint quickly and to your satisfaction. Sometimes we might need help and we may organise this with you. For example, we may suggest mediation, which is help from an independent third party to resolve the issue.
Step 4
We will answer your complaint in writing or in person and if there is an investigation, we will send you a final response when the investigation is over. If you are not happy about the response you receive, there are several other organisations where you may bring your complaint:
HSE
Email: yoursay@hse.ie Website: www.hse.ie
Infoline: 1850-24-1850 Address: Oak House, Millenium Park, Naas, Co. Kildare.
OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN
Email: info@ombudsman.ie Website: www.ombudsman.ie
Tel: 01 639 5600 Address: 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2
OMBUDSMAN FOR CHILDREN
Email: oco@oco.ie Website: www.oco.ie
Infoline: 1800 20 20 40 Address: Millenium House, 52-56 Great Strand Street, Dublin 1.
MEDICAL COUNCIL
Email: info@mcirl.ie Website: www.medicalcouncil.ie
Tel: 01 4983100 Address: Kingram House, Kingram Place, Dublin 2
AN BORD ALTRANAIS
Email: ftp@nursingboard.ie Website: www.nursingboard.ie
Tel: 01 6398500 Address: 18-20 Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, County Dublin
THE DATA PROTECTION COMMISSIONER
Tel: 0578 684 800 Website: www.dataprotection.ie
Address: Data Protection Commission, 21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2, D02 RD28, Ireland