Hospital-related complaints to the Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, have "rocketed" since legislation changed in 2004, she said yesterday. She was now receiving two complaints per week since her remit was extended to voluntary hospitals and centres providing services to the HSE.
"Many, many of the complaints I am getting relate to allegations of poor communication in hospitals and a major concern is the issue of dignity surrounding death in hospitals," she said.
Ms O'Reilly listed examples of complaints including:
An allegation that a dead patient was left on a busy ward for many hours.
An allegation that a recently deceased patient was offered a cup of tea by an attendant who had not been told of the death.
The issuing of hospital appointment cards to people who had recently died in the same hospital.
An allegation that an unprescribed dosage of medication was given to a very sick patient with the alleged consequence that the patient was unable to speak to her family in the last days of her life.
Allegations of poor communication of a test result with "very serious consequences" for the patient.
Allegations that an elderly woman, left for one week in respite care, arrived home with painful sores and undernourished.
The Ombudsman also spoke of a case where a woman was not told about her father's death until she rang the hospital to ask about his condition. She said the woman had told the hospital that there were problems between her and her sister, who was documented as the next-of-kin, and she asked to be notified of her father's impending death.
However, this did not happen and when she complained, the hospital said it had fulfilled its obligation as the next-of-kin was aware of the death. "The non-recording of a critical personal request by that lady led to her absence from the bedside of her father as he died . . . he was also deprived of her company."
She called for "a sea change" in the attitudes of hospitals around death and dying. Ms O'Reilly was speaking at a conference in Dublin organised by the Hospice-Friendly Hospitals Programme, a project involving the Irish Hospice Foundation, the HSE and Atlantic Philanthropies.
Guest speaker Minister for Health Mary Harney became emotional when she told the conference of the pain surrounding the death of her parents. She said her father had died alone even though the family had been at his beside for six weeks. "We all felt awful about that."
Her mother died in July after a long illness. "We were with her for four days and nights and I can tell you I didn't regard it as peaceful, watching somebody you love dying. It's hard to let someone go. It was very, very painful," she said as her voice broke.
"It's an area that I do have a huge interest in and I want to make sure that we have an Ireland where every dying person has whatever facilities or supports they need. It's the least that this wealthy country can do for our citizens."
Prof Cillian Twomey, chairman of the steering committee of the Hospice-Friendly Hospitals' Programme, said doctors often faced huge dilemmas when relatives asked that a patient not be informed of the seriousness of his condition. Family members often held "diametrically opposed views", which made it more difficult. However, the patient's wishes must be the doctor's priority.
