If you want to give feedback or raise a concern about the care or support in a health or social care service, you can contact us by:
Phone: 021 240 9646
Email: concerns@hiqa.ie
Post information to: Information Handling Centre, HIQA, George’s Court, George's Lane, Smithfield, Dublin 7, Ireland.
For many, the thought of making a complaint can be off-putting, so these booklets aim to help make the process easier for you.
They explain what to do if you, a family member or someone acting on your behalf wants to give feedback or make a complaint about care or treatment.
We welcome your feedback regarding your positive experiences of health and social care.
If you have a concern about a health or social care service that you or your family is receiving, we want you to let us know.
Where we have the legal power to do so, we may investigate your concern. Where we don’t have this power, we will direct you to the best place to get help, advice, information and support.
The best starting point is usually to bring your concern directly to the person or organisation responsible for providing your care.
You can do this by speaking to:
You may also wish to put your concern in writing. In many cases, concerns can be resolved at this stage. If the response you get is not satisfactory you may be able to refer your concern for another review.
A Section 41A review is a review of a very serious incident that happened during the provision of a health service in a nursing home where some or all of that care was provided in the nursing home. Section 41A reviews are about learning from very serious incidents and improving care in nursing homes and health service settings.
A section 41A review will seek to establish the facts relating to how the specified incident occurred. It will make recommendations for the service to allow action to be taken to reduce risks and improve quality and safety going forward.
A review may be considered when an incident occurs during the delivery of a health service and has resulted in:
The review is a no blame and no-fault process. This means it is not about finding fault with individuals or assigning responsibility. Instead, the focus is on understanding the circumstances surrounding the incident, including how systems, processes, and arrangements worked at the time, and identifying any learning that may help improve services and reduce the risk of similar incidents happening again.
Under Section 41(A)(5), you can request the Chief Inspector to consider a review of a specified incident if you are:
A Section 41A review can only be considered if:
If more than 12 months have passed, a review may still be considered if you could not reasonably have known about the incident earlier. The 12-month time limit applies only once Section 41A has been in operation for more than 12 months.
If these conditions are not met, a Section 41A review cannot proceed.
Not all serious incidents lead to a Section 41A review. The Chief Inspector considers factors such as the seriousness of the incident, the potential for learning, and whether a focused review could help improve safety and quality of care.
However, when an incident does not meet Section 41A criteria, there may be other avenues to progress the issue, which will be outlined in the Chief Inspector’s response to requests to consider a Section 41A review.
A nursing home resident, their family member or legal representative (or other individuals listed in the Section 41A legislation) may request the Chief Inspector to commence a Section 41A review. Separately, information might otherwise come to the attention of the Chief Inspector, leading to a Section 41A review being considered. Any such requests can be sent to HIQA’s Information Handing Centre (see details below).
While not all incidents will lead to a Section 41A review, HIQA and the Chief Inspector values information from the public. If anyone has a concern, information, or experience they would like to share with HIQA, please contact us using the details below. This is the correct and confidential way to raise concerns or to request the consideration of a specified incident review, which are managed in line with HIQA’s policies and processes.
If you want to give feedback or raise a concern about the care or support in a health or social care service, you can contact us by:
We welcome information about designated centres for dependent persons, such as nursing homes, or any concerns people may have about other health and social care services.
While we do not have the legal power to investigate individual complaints, we do review all information or concerns about services we receive and we assess them against the regulations and the standards.
If there is a serious risk to the health and welfare of people using services, HIQA or the Chief Inspector of Social Services may decide to take appropriate action in relation to that service. We may also undertake, or be required by the Minister for Health to undertake, an investigation into the safety, quality and standard of healthcare services.
For public services, you can refer your concerns to the Office of the Ombudsman or the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (you may have to first submit a complaint to the public body before you can go to the Ombudsman).
For private services, you may be able to refer your concerns to the relevant regulator. You may also want to get legal advice.
We take every precaution to protect the confidentiality of your personal information in accordance with Data Protection legislation. Any information you provide will only be used in line with the purpose for which you provided it.
HIQA or the Chief Inspector will not share your personal information with third parties unless allowed or required by law. Your personal data may also be anonymised and used for statistical purposes.