About Me | Dr Bláthnaid Regan

Complaints Procedure

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 follow a standard procedure to make sure that we manage complaints appropriately.

REMEMBER - Your opinion matters and your feedback is welcome and helpful.

Step 1 - How do I make a complaint?

There are four ways to make a complaint.

Fill in the form and give it to the Practice Secretary.
Arrange an appointment with the GP or with any member of staff to raise your complaint
Send us a letter
Download the form here and email admin@drblathnaidregan.com

In the interest of fairness, we cannot deal with anonymous complaints. If you want us to deal with your complaint, please 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 acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five 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. This may sometimes take longer (staff annual leave etc). If we anticipate delays, we will keep you informed of likely timelines
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. If a meeting is held, 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, what went wrong and why
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.

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. We hope to

resolve all complaints satisfactorily, but if you are not happy about the response you receive, we can review and reconsider the complaint and our response. Alternatively, there are several other organisations where you may bring your complaint depending on the nature of your complaint and who it involves.

HSE

Patients with a medical card may contact the HSE

Email: yoursay@hse.ie

Website: www.hse.ie

Infoline: 1850-24-1850

Address: Oak House, Millennium Park, Naas, Co. Kildare

Office of the Ombudsman

If the HSE complaint resolution is unsatisfactory, GMS patients can contact the Office of the Ombudsman or if the complaint is about children, the Ombudsman for Children (see below)

Email: info@ombudsman.ie

Website: www.ombudsman.ie

Telephone: 01 639 5600

Address: 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2