Source · Ombudsman decisions
NIPSO Individual Decisions
457 total decisions
192 investigated
139 upheld
72% upheld of investigated
Years: Jul 2000–Mar 2026
457 published decisions from the NI Public Services Ombudsman. The Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman investigates complaints about NI government departments, agencies, councils, and public bodies. Source: nipso.org.uk.
Decisions
Dental Practice
We concluded that a dental practice did not follow the correct procedures when removing a patient from its list. We also found that its records regarding the patient’s complaint were prepared several months after the alleged incidents occurred.
GP
We found that a GP practice gave a complainant the appropriate medication and took other measures to help ease her back pain.
Dental Practice
A man claimed that his son should have been entitled to priority dental treatment during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We did not uphold the complaint, finding that the treatment was not allowed within the restrictions at the time.
Southern Health and Social Care Trust
A man complained that his mother was diagnosed incorrectly by the Southern Trust and prescribed her a drug that led to her becoming confused and agitated. We found that the overall care of the patient was excellent, but partly upheld the man’s claims that the …
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
A woman complained that a nurse asked her inappropriate questions about her sexual health during a procedure to remove a birth control implant. We found that the Belfast Trust took the correct course of action and that the questions it asked were reasonable.
Independent Dental Practice
We established that it was appropriate for a dental practice to refer a patient to another practice for sedation, but we asked it to apologise to her for causing a misunderstanding.
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
We found no failing on the part of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust after investigating a woman’s complaint that she was not given the right care in the later stages of her pregnancy.
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
We found that the Belfast Trust stopped a couple’s adoption application without clearly telling them why. We asked the Trust to apologise, to let the couple make the application again, and to carry out an audit of previous adoption applications to see if others had …
Southern Health and Social Care Trust
A complainant believed that the surgery she received in Craigavon Area Hospital caused her injury and led to ongoing symptoms which were not properly treated.
Southern Health and Social Care Trust
We investigated a complaint that the Belfast Trust failed to identify and treat a physical cause for a patient's symptoms which developed after surgery to remove her thyroid.
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
A patient claimed that she wasn't assessed properly while in the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast and that the Trust tried to discharge her prematurely without any treatment.
Housing Association
Western Health and Social Care Trust
A complainant raised concerns about the Trust removing her diagnosis of PTSD. We found that the Trust’s actions were appropriate.
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
We asked Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council to take a number of learning points from our investigation into the way it dealt with a complaint that a wind turbine breached planning control.
Northern Health and Social Care Trust
We criticised the way in which the Northern Trust carried out a health check to a patient three weeks before her death. We found the outcome for the patient may have been different if the treatment and subsequent record keeping had met relevant standards.
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust has apologised to the family of a man for a number of failures while he was in hospital for lung cancer. However, we welcomed the learning and commitment to service improvement identified by the Trust following our investigation …
Northern Ireland Housing Executive
A man complained about the way the Housing Executive dealt with his concerns about episodes of Anti-Social Behaviour. We upheld the complaint, finding that the Housing Executive did not manage the claims in line with its Anti-Social Behaviour manual.
Council for Curricular Examinations and Assessment
We found no maladministration in the way the Council for the Curriculum, Examination and Assessment’s made its decision about an exam grade, but were critical of the system it had in place for receiving appeals.
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
We partly upheld a complaint from a woman who was unhappy about her hospital treatment during the later stages of her pregnancy.
Land and Property Service
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
We investigated a woman’s complaint that her father did not receive appropriate care in the Emergency Department of the Mater Hospital, Belfast. We found there were failures in his treatment, but that they did not ultimately lead to a deterioration in his health.
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
The wife of a cancer patient complained about his care in Belfast City Hospital. We found that overall the patient’s pain was appropriately assessed and managed. However, we also concluded that he failed to get radiotherapy when he needed it because of a delay in …
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
We found that a man recovering from a stomach operation was discharged too early from the ICU of Belfast City Hospital. We asked the Trust to apologise, and to review the treatment of a number of other patients who had returned to ICU following a …
Northern Health and Social Care Trust
The parents of a 20 month old boy complained about the care he received in Antrim Area Hospital, saying that they had to leave the Emergency Department as they feared staff were inept. Our investigation found that his treatment was acceptable and within the Trust’s …