My Working DayKen Lillis works as co-ordinator for consumer strategy and complaint, and liaison officer for Freedom of Information and Data Protection
Over the past five years, the former North Western Health Board has set up a regional complaints database and policy, launched a LoCall telephone information line and set up over 30 consumer panels.
We randomly select consumers from the different services who meet the service providers every six-eight weeks to discuss and hopefully resolve issues of concern raised by the panel ranging from the availability of refreshments at clinics to appointment times and signage.
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, which came into force in 1998, gives people the right to seek access to documents held by public bodies including the HSE. I liaise with the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner, Emily O'Reilly, and her staff in relation to FOI requests and people can appeal to her office if they are not happy with the service they get from us.
Under our complaints policy, a complainant is first dealt with by the complaints officer at hospital level and if they are still not happy, they can come to us. We will look at their complaint in a fair and balanced manner and, in some cases, we have taken detailed investigations ourselves into complaints.
The complainant is entitled to appeal to the Ombudsman, and her office may recommend some form of redress, either financial or organisational, ie an apology or further action.
Every Monday, we hold a team meeting where we identify the issues that need immediate attention and plan ahead for the coming weeks.
A lot of my work is proactive rather than reactive. I train our staff in relation to the Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2003, which sets out new principles for all public bodies and organisations that hold personal information. The complaints we receive range from A&E and inpatient services to food and hygiene.
Some complainants can be quite angry and don't agree with our decisions. They can be aggressive in displaying that disagreement, but we have to walk the line between trying to explain and seek redress for their complaint and respecting the right of our staff not to be abused at work.
Often, we end up as the lightning rod for people who are aggrieved with the services.