How Do I Complain to a Nursing Home?

If you are unhappy with the care you have received, you can raise the issue with the Nursing Home by phone or in person. The issue might be resolved without the need to make a formal, written complaint.

However, if you are unhappy with the response you receive after raising the issue, you can make a formal complaint.

You can complain by doing one of the following:

• Post/Email: Send your letter or email to the nominated complaints officer within the Nursing Home. Your Nursing Home provider will be able to provide you with contact details for the complaints officer in your Nursing Home.
• Phone: Your Nursing Home provider will be able to provide you with their contact details.
• Online: Your Nursing Home provider will be able to advise whether they have an online complaints process. It is advised that you keep a copy of your online complaint.

A complaints officer in the Nursing Home will be nominated to investigate your complaint. The complaints officer will follow up your complaint.

Following a full investigation about the complaint, the complaints officer will either uphold the complaint or not and present the reasons for that decision, any improvements recommended and any details of the review process in a written response.

You have 12 months from the time of the event/action you are complaining about to lodge a complaint.

In situations you were not aware of the issue/event until a later date, you have 12 months from the date you became aware of the issue to lodge a complaint.

A complaints officer may decide to investigate a complaint outside of these timeframes in special circumstances.

If you make a complaint verbally to a staff member of the person providing your care, they should acknowledge your complaint or concern, investigate your concern, update you on findings and provide a written response in a timely manner.

If you have made a written/emailed complaint, a nominated complaints officer will investigate your complaint. On conclusion of the investigation, a written response must be provided by the Nursing Home as soon as possible and in any case no later than 30 working days after receipt of the complaint.

In the event that the 30 working day timeframe cannot be complied with, you must be provided with a written response informing you when you will receive a response and the reason for the delay.

The first place you could complain to is directly to the Nursing Home provider.

Nursing Homes employ staff called complaints officers who are responsible for receiving, coordinating and responding to a complaint that has been made.

See FAQ ‘Who Can Help Me Make a Complaint to a Nursing Home?‘

In your written complaint, include the following information:

• your name
• phone number
• email address
• name of the Nursing Home
• who was involved
• dates and times of the experience
• an accurate description of what happened
• what you want to happen now

You can also attach any documentation to your complaint that you feel is relevant, either in the letter or email.

In your written letter, you could also grant permission to the Nursing Home to access your personal confidential information, in order to process your complaint.

You can make your complaint by doing one of the following:

• Talking to a local member of staff
• Post/Email: Send your letter or email to the nominated complaints officer within the Nursing Home. Your Nursing Home provider will be able to provide you with contact details for the complaints officer in your Nursing Home.
• Phone: Your Nursing Home provider will be able to provide you with their contact details.
• Online: Your Nursing Home provider will be able to advise whether they have an online complaints process. It is advised that you keep a copy of your online complaint.
• A complaints officer in the Nursing Home will be nominated to investigate your complaint. The complaints officer will follow up your complaint.

Initially, you could make your complaint at the point of contact in your Nursing Home by providing details of your complaint verbally or in writing.

 If your concern is not resolved or addressed satisfactorily you can request that your complaint be investigated formally by making a written complaint.

If you are still not happy with the outcome/decision of the complaints officer at this point, you can choose to request an internal review of your complaint or seek an external review of your complaint.

See the FAQs for further explanation of each stage of the complaints process.

Any person receiving a health or personal social services from a nursing home can make a complaint.

Where a person cannot make a complaint independently due to age, illness or disability, the complaint can be made on their behalf by a close relative or carer of the person, any person who by law has responsibility for the affairs of the person, any legal representative of the person, any other person with the consent of the person, any person who was a close relative or carer of a deceased person who at that time would have been entitled to complain, any other person who is appointed as prescribed in the regulations.

You can choose to withdraw a complaint at any stage of the complaints process.

Some Nursing Homes are provided by the HSE. It is the policy of the HSE that service users must provide contact details when making a complaint against the HSE to enable appropriate validation, follow up and investigation of that complaint, unless there is a good and sufficient reason for withholding this information.

The Health Information & Quality Authority (HIQA) has a Concerns Team who can assist you with providing feedback to HIQA. You can contact HIQA’s Concerns team in the following ways:

• By Phone: 021 240 9646
• By Email concerns@hiqa.ie
• By Post Concerns, HIQA, George’s Court, Smithfield, D07 E98Y
• Online: http://www.hiqa.ie/get-touch/report-concern-or-give-feedback

Matters of a suspected criminal nature should be reported to An Garda Síochána.  You can contact the Gardaí in the following ways:

By Phone: Local Garda Station or via the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111

You can make a request to access records and information relating to the complaint, subject to the relevant law, e.g., Freedom of Information Act, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).