Our new Bulletin includes information on our latest Own Initiative investigation, an update on our complaints standards work, and highlights recent investigation reports into complaints about patient care in three separate health trusts.

We have begun an own initiative investigation into how Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Trusts communicate with patients on healthcare waiting lists.

We want to make a positive difference to people and public services in Northern Ireland.  We do this by resolving complaints and making recommendations so that mistakes are not repeated. Our new Strategic Plan sets out how we intend to carry out this work.  We will be independent, people-focused and fair.  We will also aim to deliver excellence, with a focus on continuous learning and improvement.

A plan to transform how public bodies handle complaints has been launched today by the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO).

Former Councillor Declan Boyle (Belfast City Council) has been censured by the Local Government Commissioner for Standards after being found to have breached a number of parts of the Code of Conduct relating to declaration of interests.

The Northern Ireland Assembly today (19 January 2022) approved our complaints handling Statement of Principles. 

Our Own Initiative report into how the Department for Communities (the Department) administer Personal Independence Payment placed a requirement on the Department to provide us with an Action Plan, outlining how it intends to address and implement our 33 recommendations.

We will be operating a reduced telephone service on the week beginning 20 December 2021. This will allow our senior case workers some additional time to clear their casework, as far as possible, before the Christmas closure.

Our latest Quarterly Bulletin gives an update on our work to simplify and standardise complaints handling in the public sector, as well as links to some of our most recent investigation reports.

We received a total of 927 complaints during 2020-21.  The Ombudsman’s Report provides further details of these complaints, and includes summaries of some of our casework from the year.