Complaints Policy

Complaints Policy

We always try to give our patients the best care possible but there may be times when you feel this has not happened. If you have a complaint about your care we need to hear from you so that we can learn lessons, thereby continuously improving our care of patients. We have a written procedure in the Practice to ensure that we manage complaints in the most effective way, to the highest standard and we hope to the satisfaction of our patients.

If we have gotten something wrong, we will apologise and where possible we will try to put things right. We also aim to learn from our mistakes and use the information we gain to improve our services.

If you are disappointed with any aspects of our service, please see the below procedure. All complaints will be dealt with in a strictly confidential manner.

Sometimes, you might be concerned about matters that are not decided by us (external decisions made by the HSE) and we will then advise you about how to make your concerns known.

Formal procedure:

Step 1

Complete and submit it for attention of the Practice Manager. In the interest of fairness, we cannot investigate anonymous complaints.

Step 2

We will try to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible and will acknowledge it at the earliest possible opportunity and certainly within 5 working days. Our aim will be to have looked into the matter within 10 working days. You will receive a formal reply in writing or you may be invited to meet with us to attempt to resolve the complaint to your satisfaction.

If your complaint is such that it requires an investigation we will set one in progress and inform you of the process and who will carry it out and agree a timeline within which we will work. We will give you the opportunity to comment on the process and if a meeting is arranged you will be invited to bring a friend or relative with you. Our aim will be to try to adhere to a 30 day timeline and if there are reasons why it will take longer we will discuss with you.

Step 3

When looking into a complaint we attempt to:

Find out what happened and what went wrong and why
Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned
Ensure you receive an apology where this is appropriate
Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not arise again

We hope that we will be able to resolve your complaint quickly and to your satisfaction but if we believe we need assistance, for example mediation or other external assistance, we may arrange this in consultation with you.

Step 4
When the investigations are complete your complaint will be determined and a final response sent to you. If your complaint is still not resolved to your satisfaction, there are several external options where you may bring your complaint, such as:

HSE – www.hse.ie

Medical Council – www.medicalcouncil.ie

Updated February 2025

Complaints Form

You can download and print a complaints form here >>