Complaints over doctors have ‘nowhere to go’

Just one doctor working in a public hospital was reported by the HSE over a 12-month period, it has emerged.

Ombudsman Peter Tyndall said a huge number of complaints about clinical judgment had “nowhere to go” because he did not have the power to deal with them.

Because the Supreme Court had set the bar very high for the regulatory authorities to hold fitness-to-practice inquiries a large gap had developed in the system.