As of yet, no decision has been made on whether to launch investigations based on those complaints, said Linda Williamson, director of communications for the ombudsman.

One of the three complaints is over a decision by the LHIN giving a go-ahead to Hamilton Health Sciences' restructuring plan, which included the controversial closing of the McMaster University Medical Centre's emergency department to adults. Details of that complaint have been made public by Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Horwath, who made the complaint.

The two complaints about the NHS restructuring plan, which would replace the emergency departments at the Port Colborne hospital and Douglas Memorial hospital in Fort Erie with urgent care centres, and which would consolidate obstetrical services for all of Niagara at the planned new St. Catharines hospital, both originate from within Niagara.

Williamson said that because people making complaints to the ombudsman office are guaranteed confidentiality, she can't provide specifics on the Niagara complaints or say who made them.

"We can't provide any details," she said.

The ombudsman office still hasn't decided which, if any of the complaints, warrant an investigation, Williamson said.

"We don't have many details at this point," she said. "We're just assessing the complaints."

Ombudsman investigations can be as simple as making a phone call, or as complex and time-consuming as an exhaustive probe of problems within Ontario's Municipal Property Assessment Corporation several years ago, which Williamson said was "massive."

In June, Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin said in his annual report that it's ludicrous that his office is not allowed to investigate hospitals or long-term care homes in the province, while those facilities receive $18 billion from the government every year, while there are "dire" conditions at the homes and with unprecedented numbers of hospital boards being taken over by the provincial government.

But the ombudsman is allowed to investigate LHINs, which are considered part of the Ministry of Health -- a body the ombudsman can probe, said Williamson.

The local LHIN has not been notified of the complaints yet, she said, because no investigation has yet been launched. "If there was an investigation launched, the LHIN would be notified," she said. "It's not at that stage yet."