The Patient Ombudsman (French: Ombudsman des patients) is an ombudsman office which acts as a neutral body of last resort for complaints about the healthcare system in Ontario, Canada. The Patient Ombudsman has jurisdiction over public hospitals and long-term care homes, as well as home and community care coordinated by the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).
In the office's first year, it received 2,000 complaints. The bulk of complaints were about Ontario's hospitals.[5][6][7] The office received 2,300 complaints in its second year of operations.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Ombudsmen Cathy Fooks released a series of recommendations to deal with the pandemic in long-term care homes, such as better whistleblower protections, communications and visitation systems.[8]
^Fitzpatrick, Meagan (4 December 2018). "Is Ontario's patient ombudsman next on the Ford government chopping block?". CBC News. Retrieved 2 June 2020. The patient ombudsman is not an independent officer of the legislature, however. It falls under Health Quality Ontario — a government agency that monitors quality in health care and provides advice to government and health care providers.