Compliments and Complaints

If you would like to make a comment, compliment, or complaint about any aspect of our service you can do one of the following;  

By Email:cumh.qps@hse.ie

Your Service Your Say

By Letter: Quality & Patient Safety Office, Cork University Maternity Hospital, Wilton, Cork

By Phone: 021-4920707

Quality & Data Co-Ordinator,

Cork University Maternity Hospital                            

Tel: 021-4920825

If you would like independent support to make a complaint about the care you have received in a public acute hospital, you can contact the Patient Advocacy Service. The Patient Advocacy Service is an independent, free and confidential service that provides information and support to people who want to make a formal complaint through the HSE ‘Your Service, Your Say’ complaints policy about the care they have experienced in a HSE-funded public acute hospital or a HSE-operated nursing home. 

Contact Details:

You can contact the Patient Advocacy Service from Monday to Friday, 10am - 4pm, on 0818 293003  

Or email: info@patientadvocacyservice.ie

Visit the Patient Advocacy Service website for more information

What Happens Next?

• In the case of a comment or a compliment we will send you a letter of acknowledgement if you provide your contact details.
• We will pass on your comment or compliment to the relevant department/ward.
• If it is a verbal complaint, every attempt will be made to try to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
• A written complaint will be acknowledged in writing within five working days from the date it is received. The letter will also tell you the name of the nominated complaints officer who will investigate your complaint.
• The complaints officer will look into your complaint within 30 working days of the date when it was acknowledged.
• Once the investigation is complete, we will provide you with a written response explaining the outcome and conclusions of the investigation.      

Writing a complaint

• Ideally, all complaints should be made soon after the events you want to complain about happened. This makes it easier for everyone to remember what happened.
• Please give as much information as you can, including your name, address, date of birth, contact telephone number, email address and hospital MRN number if you know it.
• You can ask a friend or relative to raise a concern or complaint on your behalf. If you do, we will ask you to sign a consent form, giving us permission to disclose your personal information to this person.
• For the purpose of accessing patient confidential information as part of the investigation of a complaint, we must ensure that we have the consent of the patient to do so. 

What do I do if I am not satisfied with the response from the complaints officer or the way my complaint was dealt with?

We hope that we have been able to resolve your complaint satisfactorily. However, if you remain unhappy with our response you are entitled to seek a review by setting out in writing the grounds for your dissatisfaction with our recommendations. Your request for a review will be examined, and if appropriate, a Review Officer will be assigned to review your complaint. You must request a review within 30 working days of your response letter.

The contact details are:

Professor John R. Higgins CEO South/South West Hospital Group, Request for Review, Caha House, Business & Techonology Park, Model Farm Road, Cork.

Please note you can also refer your complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is impartial and free to use.

The Ombudsman will ask you for details of your complaint and to provide a copy of this letter (our final response to your complaint). The best way to do this is here.

You can also write to: Office of the Ombudsman, 6 Earlfort Terrace, Dublin 2, D02 W772 or call 01 6395600 if you have any queries.

• You may request a review from the Director of the National Advocacy Unit, Quality and Patient Safety Directorate, HSE, Oak House, Millennium Park, Naas, Co. Kildare. Tel: 045 880 400. You should clarify in writing the key issue that you wish to have reviewed. You have 30 working days from the date the response was sent to you by the complaints officer to request a review.

FAQs

Will making a complaint go on my health record?

No, your complaint is not kept in your medical notes and it will not affect your future care in any way.

If I make a complaint will it negatively affect my care and treatment?

Absolutely not. The Hospital sees complaints as an opportunity to improve our services and they should not have any detrimental effects on the person making the complaint. Please contact us if you feel that the service you have received has been affected following making a complaint.

Can I ask for information about the care and treatment of my relative?

The Hospital has a duty of confidentiality to our service users. This means that we will not share information about a service user without their permission to do so. This does not mean that we will not look into the concerns of relatives or friends about a service user’s care and treatment, but it does mean that we will not always be able to share the full results of our investigations.

Is there a time limit for complaining?

It is important that you make your complaint as soon as possible after the event you wish to complain about, but generally under the HSE Complaints Procedure it is only possible to investigate complaints made:

• Within 12 months of the event or;
• Within 12 months of you realising you have something to complain about.