The Ombudsman believes there is a genuine risk to patients because of a lack of independent oversight of clinical judgement in the health system.

Peter Tyndall has said one of his biggest concerns is that there is no organisation to complain to if a patient feels there has been poor judgement in their care.

There were 585 complaints made about the HSE last year according to the Ombudsman’s Annual Report – the second highest rate for a government department – behind the Department of Social Protection.

The Ombudsman Peter Tyndall has said a Supreme Court ruling last year limited the Medical Council’s ability to investigate clinical judgement, which leaves no oversight at all.

He has seen a number of complaints around serious shortcomings, but says he can’t investigate them: “My worry at the moment is that there is no independent oversight of those compliance.

“It seems to me that that is leading to a genuine risk to patients, things are going wrong, nobody externally is looking at it, that means that they can continue to go wrong, because there is no corrective mechanism.”