Complaints Information for Patients and the Public

You should talk to your doctor directly if you have questions or concerns about your treatment or care.  The doctor is best placed to answer your questions and provide the support you need.  This is often the quickest and easiest way to resolve your concern.

If you don’t get the answers or explanations you need, or if things go wrong, you can make a complaint directly to the doctor or to the healthcare clinic/hospital where they work.

Before making a complaint to the Medical Council, you should first contact the doctor or hospital involved in your care to discuss your concerns directly.

Most complaints can be dealt with swiftly and satisfactorily in the first instance when the complaint is made locally to a hospital, practise manager or to the doctor directly.

You can find details on making a complaint locally here.

If you feel your issue or complaint is of a serious nature and cannot be resolved locally or through your doctor, the Medical Council looks into complaints about registered doctors and can take action where a complaint raises concerns over a doctor's fitness to practise, You can find an overview of what the Medical Council can do below and find out more information on how to submit your complaint.

The Medical Council looks into complaints about registered doctors and can take action where complaints are of a serious nature and raise concerns over a doctor's fitness to practise.

If a registered doctor is found guilty of professional misconduct and/or poor professional performance, a sanction (penalty) can be imposed on the doctor’s registration.  Any sanction imposed on a doctor will be proportionate to the risk identified. The type of sanctions available to the Medical Council can be found here: Medical Council Sanctions. In the most serious cases, it may be necessary to restrict or remove the doctor’s right to practise medicine in Ireland. 

While this not an exhaustive list, these are some examples of complaints the Medical Council typically investigate:

• Irresponsible or repeated mistakes in prescribing e.g. prescribing drugs in an excessive or dangerous manner  
• Treatment/Performance e.g.  serious failure to examine a patient properly
• Inappropriate relationships and behaviour
• Misdiagnosis
• Inappropriate examinations
• Fraud or dishonesty
• Serious breaches of a patient's confidentiality
• Any serious criminal offence
• Clinical incompetence

If complaints are deemed to not be of a serious nature and do not raise concerns over a doctor's fitness to practise, they may be closed with no further action by the Medical Council. While this not an exhaustive list, these are some examples of such complaints;

• Complaints relating to level of fees;
• Complaints relating to waiting times in a doctor’s surgery and or appointment times or availability of appointments in non-urgent cases;
• Complaints relating to the general medical scheme (GMS) (e.g. costs/fees outside of the GMS scheme; notification of the change of GMS doctor and/or access to medical cards);
• Complaints arising from an historic incident (i.e. an incident that occurred in the past and where an investigation would not be practicable or possible due the passage of time);
• Complaints in relation to matters that the complainant has no direct knowledge of;
• Repeated complaints about the same doctor, same practice, or the same issue(s);
• Complaints made as a result of a misunderstanding or misinterpretation (i.e. a minor communication issue);
• Anonymous complaints which are not serious and/or which cannot be investigated;
• Where the complaint relates to a doctor’s role as an adviser to the Government and/or contributor to Government policy;
• Complaints where the complainant disagrees with the doctor’s clinical opinion in respect of reports prepared for an employer, insurer etc.
• Complaints relating to provision of medico-legal reports for civil proceedings.

No, the Medical Council cannot make a doctor apologise to you. We also cannot do the following:

• Give you a detailed explanation of what happened to you. This can only come from the doctor or healthcare provider
• Pay you compensation or help you make a claim for compensation
• Look into complaints about anyone who is not a registered doctor (for example; nurses pharmacists, dentists, opticians, social workers, administrative staff/secretaries, clinics or other healthcare organisations)
• Order a doctor to do something for you such as; provide the treatment that you want, write a prescription for you, give you access to your records or change medical records.
• Give or arrange medical treatment or counselling for you
• Give legal advice or representation to you

In some instances, and where appropriate, we may recommend that you make your complaint to another regulatory body or healthcare employer.

There are seven grounds of complaint which can warrant action being taken by the Medical Council.  

• Professional misconduct (Conduct that experienced, competent and reputable doctors consider disgraceful or dishonourable; conduct that falls short of the standards of conduct expected of doctors)
• Poor professional performance (a failure by the doctor to meet the standards of competence (whether in knowledge and skill, the application of knowledge and skill or both) that can reasonably be expected of doctors practising the kind of medicine practised by the doctor)
• A relevant medical disability (a physical or mental disability (including addiction to alcohol or drugs) that may impair the doctor’s ability to practise medicine or a particular aspect of medicine)
• A failure to comply with one or more condition(s) attached to a doctor's registration
• A failure to comply with an undertaking given to the Medical Council or to take any action specified in a consent given in the context of a previous inquiry
• Contravention (infringement) of the Medical Practitioners Act 2007
• A conviction in the State for an offence triable on indictment or if convicted outside the State, for an offence that would be triable on indictment in the Irish courts.

All complaints are initially handled by the Preliminary Proceedings Committee (PPC). It is the role of the Preliminary Proceedings Committee to investigate a complaint, decide whether it warrants further action and provide recommendations to the Medical Council. 

Step 1 - Investigation

Step 2 - Inquiry Hearing

or the Preliminary Proceedings Committee finds that:

• No further action is necessary 
• The complaint needs to be referred to another body or authority 
• The doctor should be referred to the Council's performance procedures and activities for an assessment of their knowledge and skill.
• Mediation if deemed appropriate could resolve the complaint and restore the doctor/patient relationship

If a registered doctor is found guilty of professional misconduct and/or poor professional performance, a sanction (penalty) can be imposed on the doctor’s registration.  Any sanction imposed on a doctor will be proportionate to the risk identified. The type of sanctions available to the Medical Council can be found here: Medical Council Sanctions . In the most serious cases, it may be necessary to restrict or remove the doctor’s right to practise medicine in Ireland. 

View more information on the possible outcomes of the Preliminary Proceedings Committee.

More information on the complaints process is available here.

Medical Council Complaints Process 

We have prepared a list of frequently asked questions in relation to the complaints process, which may be helpful should you have any queries. View list of Complaints FAQs here.

Our complaint form is available here to download as a PDF. This form may be completed on your computer and emailed directly to our Complaints team at complaints@mcirl.ie. It can also be sent by post.

If you do not have Adobe on your computer, please use this link to download it. The form can also be saved or printed by using the ‘Save’ and ‘Print’ links on the top right of each page.

Please ensure that all pages of this form are complete and enclosed together with any additional documentation.

We ask that you provide as much detail, information, and documentation as possible within your complaint form.

• To check if a doctor is on our register please click here.
• If you are unsure as to who your complaint should be submitted to, information on the appropriate bodies in which you can make a complaint to can be accessed here.
• Glossary of terms
• Guidance on how complaints are assessed
• Making a complaint about a doctor: A Guide for Patients
• Medical Practitioners Act 2007.pdf
• Preliminary Proceedings Committee Procedures Document
• Guidance on Sanctions Imposed by the Medical Council
• Publication of Information Relating to Complaints
• Important notice on complaints amounting to poor professional performance
• Guidelines on Immediate Suspension (Section 60)
• Patient Advocacy Services

If you would like to know how we manage your information for the purposes of processing a complaint, please click below:

• Registrant Privacy Notice
• Witness Privacy Notice
• Complainant Privacy Notice