Do Public Servants have to give their name?

Lofty123

does anyone know if a Public Servant from a government Department is obliged to give their name if asked?

My daughter was on the phone to the Medical Card Appeals Section of the HSE today. Her medical card has been withdrawn. She was not informed, and only discovered this when she went to collect a prescription at her local pharmacy.

She wanted to send documentation in support of her appeal. The lady she spoke to was rude and unhelpful. (this seems to be becoming commonplace when dealing with "Public Servants")
When asked for her name she refused to give it, saying "we get far too many appeals now to be giving our names to people". If we wanted to lodge a complaint about her rudeness how could we do so if we didn't have the name of the person?
My daughter was advised to fax the documents to them.. Fax, in 2013???
After some discussion, she managed to get an email address for the department. In my experience if you are dealing with a department rather than a person documents tend to get "lost" or "not received"

Surely you have some rights in this situation? Who made the decision to rescind her medical card? Why was she not informed in writing, with said persons signature?

Mary Harney created the HSE to hide behind. It would appear that the employees are now doing the same.:mad:

MadsL

http://www.ombudsman.gov.ie/en/

Puts manners on depts.

UCDVet

MadsL wrote: »

http://www.ombudsman.gov.ie/en/

Puts manners on depts.

It sounds good - but it doesn't seem like they have any authority? So, yes, you can complain, and they can 'investigate' but it's unlikely the rude lady is going to have any reason to not be rude in the future. Maybe, in a few weeks, you'll get a nice apology.

Red Pepper

UCDVet wrote: »

It sounds good - but it doesn't seem like they have any authority? So, yes, you can complain, and they can 'investigate' but it's unlikely the rude lady is going to have any reason to not be rude in the future.

Yep, there is a small chance she will be moved on but she will not be fired. Union rules. Often you need to "promote" or give an excellent performance rating to a troublesome employee to move them on. Especially in the HSE. It's really messed up. Some back office (i.e. non front line bureaucracy) sections of the HSE are absolutely horrible places to work in but most people are loathe to leave for obvious reasons.

Christ the Redeemer

Back when I was a Civil Servant I'd of gotten a clip round the ear from my HEO for being rude to people on the phone.

Red Pepper

Lofty123 wrote: »

Mary Harney created the HSE to hide behind. It would appear that the employees are now doing the same.:mad:

The amalgamation of the health boards into the HSE was a good idea. Unfortunately it was very badly handled. The health boards had many people doing the exact same role/tasks. When the HSE was formed, this work should have been consolidated or centralised and the "excess" people let go. However there were no layoffs and this created a disaster. The HSE did consolidate a lot of admin tasks but it left lots of people with SFA to do so they had to create processes and procedures and zero value add roles to keep people "busy". And now we have the bureaucratic mess that is the HSE. The HSE is very well funded but the money spent on salaries/expenses for the "excess" staff should be going to the front line and facilities. It needs to be rebuilt from the bottom up but this time, they simply have to reduce back office staff numbers considerably and hire more doctors/nurses.

woodoo

There was a letter sent out to every medical card holder a couple of months ago to confirm if you still need the card. Maybe she didn't reply to that letter.

kupus

Good luck in dealing with the civil servants in ireland, your going to need patience and lots of it.
They are unionized and as such answerable to nobody, basically untouchable and sending the ombudsman after them....... Its like sending a poodle to do a rottweilers job.

kneemos

Probably advised not to give their names most likely.

Specialun

Think it was mary that you were speaking to

MadsL

When was the last Civil Servant actually fired? Anyone know?

woodoo

MadsL wrote: »

When was the last Civil Servant actually fired? Anyone know?

1982 after their 2nd murder. They let them back after the first murder but called a halt after the second.

wazky

woodoo wrote: »

1982 after their 2nd murder. They let them back after the first murder but called a halt after the second.

Ah the lad who was murdered first was asking for it though, he should have known how to fill out the form without asking for help.

Lapin

Christ the Redeemer wrote: »

Back when I was a Civil Servant I'd of gotten a clip round the ear from my HEO for being rude to people on the phone.

Did you then take a year off on full pay while taking your HEO to a tribunal for the trauma you endured before returning to work for him or her when a suitable compensation package was agreed at the taxpayers expense ?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Lofty123 wrote: »

does anyone know if a Public Servant from a government Department is obliged to give their name if asked?

My daughter was on the phone to the Medical Card Appeals Section of the HSE today. Her medical card has been withdrawn. She was not informed, and only discovered this when she went to collect a prescription at her local pharmacy.

She wanted to send documentation in support of her appeal. The lady she spoke to was rude and unhelpful. (this seems to be becoming commonplace when dealing with "Public Servants")
When asked for her name she refused to give it, saying "we get far too many appeals now to be giving our names to people". If we wanted to lodge a complaint about her rudeness how could we do so if we didn't have the name of the person?
My daughter was advised to fax the documents to them.. Fax, in 2013???
After some discussion, she managed to get an email address for the department. In my experience if you are dealing with a department rather than a person documents tend to get "lost" or "not received"

Surely you have some rights in this situation? Who made the decision to rescind her medical card? Why was she not informed in writing, with said persons signature?

Mary Harney created the HSE to hide behind. It would appear that the employees are now doing the same.:mad:

Have you tried this forum OP? http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=861

I don't believe they are obliged to give their names. Why would they be? It's not exactly an easy job and contrary to popular belief, they're on sweet f all.

You might get a better answer than AH. You mentioned Public Servants so expect this thread to enter a shít storm.

It seems from your OP that you are upset, I understand this, but there is a reason why your daughters medical card was withdrawn. In order to find this out, you should go through the normal process. Looks like to me that you're looking for a target of some sort to let loose on. Was the lady actually rude? Were you there? What did she say or do that made her rude? Why don't you try focusing your energy on getting the issue fixed rather than placing blame on somebody?

Don't get what you want so you have to target somebody... :rolleyes:

Lapin

Aitana Straight Graveyard wrote: »

......It seems from your OP that you are upset, I understand this, but there is a reason why your daughters medical card was withdrawn......

Yeah, she probably filled out her application form with an upside down full stop on page 7.

ChewChew

I think when you ring a number and the switch/hunt pits you through, before that public servant answers the phone we should get their full name, address, mobile no and pps number. Just in case we need to torch them like.

Christ the Redeemer

Lapin wrote: »

Did you then take a year off on full pay while taking your HEO to a tribunal for the trauma you endured before returning to work for him or her when a suitable compensation package was agreed at the taxpayers expense ?

No, I left for the private sector.

Lumbo

MadsL wrote: »

When was the last Civil Servant actually fired? Anyone know?

Last Thursday.

joe swanson

Pay peanuts - get monkeys.

This is the result of cuts upon cuts.

MadsL

ChewChew wrote: »

I think when you ring a number and the switch/hunt pits you through, before that public servant answers the phone we should get their full name, address, mobile no and pps number. Just in case we need to torch them like.

My torch is broken..any idea where I could get it fixed?

bgrizzley

MadsL wrote: »

My torch is broken..any idea where I could get it fixed?

i hear Petersons in Dunlaoghaire repair them, (or it may be covered by warranty)

Lofty123

Lofty123 wrote: »

She was not informed, and only discovered this when she went to collect a prescription at her local pharmacy.

When asked for her name she refused to give it, saying "we get far too many appeals now to be giving our names to people". If we wanted to lodge a complaint about her rudeness how could we do so if we didn't have the name of the person?

Was it still in date?
Why should she have to give you her name? People in her position probably get threatened with complaints and much worse every day. It would be unwise to give people her personal information.

You seem to think that this woman was out to get your daughter - why would she be? Do you think it's more likely that she was an evil bitch out to get some poor woman on the phone and cause herself hassle, or do you think that maybe your daughter was shocked, worried and maybe even a little bit embarrassed about what happened at the pharmacy and was difficult to deal with over the phone?

Aitana Straight Graveyard wrote: »

It's not exactly an easy job and contrary to popular belief, they're on sweet f all.

What did she say or do that made her rude?

I'd agree here OP, what do you actually have to go on?

Almaviva

joe swanson wrote: »

Pay peanuts - get monkeys.

Overpay them, dont manage them, get the work of monkeys.

ChewChew

MadsL wrote: »

My torch is broken..any idea where I could get it fixed?

Jaysis you're askin the wrong person. I heard the medical card applications lady is very helpful!! Call her

Lapin

ChewChew wrote: »

Jaysis you're askin the wrong person. I heard the medical card applications lady is very helpful!! Call her

They can't - They don't know her name.

michellie

I wouldn't give out my full name in work, maybe my first name or my employee number. But I dont feel comfortable giving out my name to irate people who want to complain because they are not happy with the correct information you are giving them.

woodoo

Did your daughter move address or anything and not tell the medical card office

ChewChew

Lapin wrote: »

They can't - They don't know her name.

Sure all them there monkeys are the same... Won't matter really who they get on the phone

whirlpool

Aitana Straight Graveyard wrote: »

Was the lady actually rude? Were you there? What did she say or do that made her rude? Why don't you try focusing your energy on getting the issue fixed rather than placing blame on somebody?

Don't get what you want so you have to target somebody... :rolleyes:

Why bother asking the OP question if you're just going to decide on the conclusion before hearing the answer?

How about waiting for the OP to respond to your questions?

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

whirlpool wrote: »

Why bother asking the OP question if you're just going to decide on the conclusion before hearing the answer?

How about waiting for the OP to respond to your questions?

My statement was a general one, not specific to the OP but in general.

If you have dealt with the general public in a job of some sort, you may have encountered it.

Customer is seeking something which the company does not provide, but the customer wants to use the company for their services for whatever reason. Instead of accepting it, the customer would tend to turn on the company and try to pick out some flaw or another to focus their attack on.