Introduction
The parliamentary and health service ombudsman holds two ombudsman offices, one being the health service ombudsman and the other being the parliamentary ombudsman. The post of the parliamentary service was established through the Parliamentary Commissioner Act of 1967.[1] The role of the office holder was to investigate complaints made by citizens with regard to maladministration by public officials. The Health Service Ombudsman was established later on through the 1973 NHS Reorganization Act as a result of the increased concerns about the effectiveness of the minister of health to adequately address all health related grievances brought before it by members of the public.[2] The office of the health service ombudsman has undergone a couple of modifications through different acts, including the 1993 the Health Service Commissioners Act, Parliamentary and Health Service Commissioners Act 1987 and the 1996 amendment of the Health Service Commissioner Act. The Health Service Commissioner (Amendment) Act 1996 gave the parliamentary and health service ombudsman a broader jurisdiction over all matters related to the National Health Service care and treatment.[3]
The parliamentary and health service ombudsman plays a dual role, which mainly involves looking into cases of maladministration by public entities, agencies and departments including the National Health Service.[4] Maladministration refers to a public entity’s failure to act fairly or properly in its delivery of services to members of the public. It also refers to the provision of poor services and failure to correct such mistakes by a public office. Maladministration often causes members of the public to suffer injustice. The parliamentary and health service ombudsman has the mandate to investigate such complaints, thus plays an important role in the delivery of administrative justice.[5] However, the role of the parliamentary and health service ombudsman in the provision of administrative justice is undermined by a number of factors which have led to increased calls for reforms. Different reform suggestions have been put forward, one of them being dropping of the MP filter. This paper argues that dropping of the MP filter would go a great way in serving the interest of administrative justice.
Role of the parliamentary and health service ombudsman