Broken Trust 005 - The Office of the Ombudsman – Smell a Rat!
Smell a rat “to recognise that something is not as it appears to be or that something dishonest and underhanded is happening”
On submission of her complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman dated 20th November 2024, my sister received the following immediate automatic online acknowledgement – see my post titled “Broken Trust 004 - The Office of the Ombudsman - Complaint to the Health Service Executive (HSE) via the General Manager of St Luke’s General Hospital, Kilkenny dated 27th February 2023“;
She then received the following automatic email acknowledgement from the Office of the Ombudsman;
Two days later on Friday 22nd November 2024, my sister received a standard acknowledgement of receipt of her complaint dated 20th November 2024 from the Early Resolution Unit, The Office of the Ombudsman where they issued a Case Number;
Shockingly, later the same day Friday 22nd November 2024, that my sister received a standard acknowledgement of receipt of her complaint dated 20th November 2024 (above), the Ombudsman ABRUPTLY CLOSED my complaint dated 14th June 2024 WITHOUT any further communication from Ms Geraldine McCormack, Investigator or anybody from the Office of the Ombudsman!
My complaint had been with the Ombudsman for more than five months, when I received an abrupt email and attached letter from Ms Paula Dowd, Investigator, The Office of the Ombudsman who had NOT previously informed me that she was involved in the Ombudsman’s investigation of my complaint – see my post titled: “System Analysis Investigation - 28. The Office of the Ombudsman - Abruptly Closed Complaint!”
Following the ABRUPT CLOSURE of my complaint by the Ombudsman, my sister wrote a second letter dated 26th November 2024 to the Ombudsman in support of her complaint in order to clarify to the Ombudsman that the substantive issue of this compliant is NOT the clinical judgements of doctors or other medical professionals as her complaint contained a mixture of non-clinical and clinical care elements within it.
And;
And;
And;
And;
https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2006/si/652/made/en/print
And in particular the following was NOT done;
Page three of the document my sister attached to her letter named ‘Final Clinical Guidance_V4 Dec18.docx’ states:
Why was this NOT done?
This matter should be of concern to the Ombudsman.
Rather, what factually happened is evident in the email below received through Freedom of Information (FOI) where Dr Kenneth Bolger (Irish Medical Council Registration Number 258617) can be seen to be convening strategy meetings prior to the Serious Incident Management Team (SIMT) meetings held on 03.07.2023 and 24.07.2023. He had a strong desire to prevent our family from obtaining access to documents through FOI and SAR requests and it appears he had been in contact regarding this with Mr Declan Kelly, General Services Manager and Freedom of Information Officer, St Luke's General Hospital, Kilkenny.
Our family have written evidence that Mr Declan Kelly had also been attending meetings called by Dr Kenneth Bolger (Irish Medical Council Registration Number 258617), where Dr Kenneth Bolger was calling meetings with HSE staff in order to have our complaints regarding his gross negligence to a criminal degree dismissed and to ensure that the mistreatment of our father resulting in his death was covered up.
The email below dated Friday, 3rd March 2023 which was just four working days following the hospitals receipt of my sisters complaint dated Monday, 27th February 2023 (this complaint) is evidence that Dr Kenneth Bolger (Irish Medical Council Registration Number 258617), wanted to have my sisters serious complaints “put this to bed once and for all – by which I mean if she is not satisfied with the response generated from that meeting she will have to be advised she can take her complaint elsewhere – this is harassment for the sake of harassment”.
He did not want the criminal matter investigated at all and tried to make himself the victim by claiming “this is harassment for the sake of harassment”;
See my post titled: “System Analysis Investigation - 22. The HSE - A CRIMINAL MATTER - Preliminary Assessment Form”
Why was Dr Kenneth Bolger (Irish Medical Council Registration Number 258617) being allowed by hospital management to direct the outcome of our complaints regarding his gross negligence to a criminal degree, so that he could have them all dismissed?
My sister sent the second letter named ‘Letter 26.11.2024 to Ombudsman - Complaint to HSE via GM SLGHK - XXXXXXXXXX – UPDATE’ and document of evidence named ‘Final Clinical Guidance_V4 Dec18.docx’ by email attachment to the Ombudsman late in the day on Monday, 25th November 2024. Additionally, as her initial submission dated 20th November 2024 would not allow all of her documents to be attached (as they only allow five documents to be submitted online with the complaint) she also attached the remaining documents to this correspondence with clarification as follows;
MY SISTER’S SECOND LETTER TO THE OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN DATED 26TH NOVEMBER 2024;
On 4th December 2024 as my sister had not received confirmation from the Office of the Ombudsman that they had received the above, she sent the following email to ask for written confirmation of receipt;
My sister received the following confirmation of receipt of her documents from Ms Geraldine McCormack, Investigator. This is the same Ms Geraldine McCormack, Investigator who informed me on 18th July 2024 that she had been assigned my case for assessment (submitted by me on 14th June 2024) prior to it being abruptly closed by Ms Paula Dowd, Investigator on 22nd November 2024 – see my post titled: “System Analysis Investigation - 28. The Office of the Ombudsman - Abruptly Closed Complaint!”
Ms Geraldine McCormack, Investigator did not get back in touch with my sister or communicate with her at all following her email above dated 4th December 2024 nor, did anybody from the Office of the Ombudsman, which she found strange.
On 20th December 2024, my sister received a ‘decision’ which arrived in suspicious circumstances.
The ‘decision’ was from the same investigator Ms Paula Dowd, who on 22nd November 2024, just two days after receipt of my sister’s complaint (above), ABRUPTLY CLOSED my complaint dated 14th June 2024.
Suffice to say, we smell a rat!