Health authority moves to deal with public’s complaints

THE country’s largest health authority is to set up a system of independent inquiries into complaints by members of the public which its own staff fail to resolve.

The Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) has also said it will issue formal apologies as a standard response where a mistake has been made or poor service delivered and it will provide evidence that steps are being taken to prevent a recurrence.

A survey carried out last year by the authority, which covers all of Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare, found that one in every 14 people who had contact with the health agencies and social services in the region had made a complaint about the standard of service received and a “significant proportion” were unhappy with the way their complaint was handled.