Feedback and complaints

Healthcare feedback

Feedback helps to improve care. It lets health services know what is working well and what could be improved, and it helps keep care safe. You can share positive feedback through compliments, and offer suggestions for ways your treatment experience could be made better.

All health care services should have ways for patients to give feedback and make complaints. Check with the cancer care coordinator, clinical unit manager or social worker. Some hospitals have a patient representative or patient advocate who looks after patient concerns. You can usually find their details on the hospital’s website.

Raising the issue may mean you get a different view of why something happened, and talking about it may help you understand what is happening and could make you feel better about your situation. You can also ask a friend or relative to raise a concern for you.

If you don’t feel comfortable raising the issue directly, or you weren’t happy with the initial discussions, you may prefer to send an email or write a letter. If you write your complaint, you may need to wait for a reply. Health professionals must keep any complaints you lodge private, unless an exception (such as mandatory reporting) applies.

If you have concerns about your private health fund and have been unable to resolve these issues with the fund, the Commonwealth Ombudsman looks after private health insurance complaints and may be able to help.

Healthcare complaints

You can give feedback or make a complaint about your health care whether you are treated in a public or private hospital or treatment centre, or if you see a practitioner in a private clinic. Complaints will be managed differently depending on the type of concern and the state or territory where you are having care.

Health services are also expected to acknowledge patient harm by telling you if something has gone wrong during your care, how it may affect you and what is being done to make care safe. Ask your health service if it has a policy around providing this information and what the steps are under their policy.

For more information, visit the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care and search for “open disclosure guide for patients”.

Making a formal health care complaint

To make a formal health care complaint, you need to contact your state or territory health complaints organisation (see below). It can be helpful to check if there are any time limits or other requirements you have to meet before making a complaint. 

Health care complaints should be in writing and can often be made by filling in an online form. If you can’t make the complaint yourself, a relative, friend, guardian or health professional may be able to lodge the complaint on your behalf.

In most cases, you will be assigned a case officer, who may give a copy of the complaint to the healthcare provider and ask them to give their version of events. With your consent, your case officer may also access your medical records or other relevant information from the healthcare provider.

Once the case officer has completed their assessment, the relevant state or territory health complaints organisation will write to tell you how they will deal with your complaint. They may decide to refer it for mediation or conciliation, which is an informal meeting to try to resolve problems. 

Health complaints organisations

• National: Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission 1800 951 822
• ACT: ACT Human Rights Commission (02) 6205 2222
• NSW: Health Care Complaints Commission 1800 043 159
• NT: Health and Community Services Complaints Commission 1800 004 474
• QLD: Office of the Health Ombudsman 133 646
• SA: Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner 1800 232 007
• TAS: Health Complaints Commissioner Tasmania 1800 001 170
• VIC: Health Complaints Commissioner 1300 582 113
• WA: Health and Disability Services Complaints Office (08) 6551 7600 or 1800 813 583

Medical negligence

Health professionals must treat you safely and with care and skill. If you have been injured or have suffered financial loss as a result of inadequate treatment or care, you may be able to make a claim for compensation (medical negligence claim).

Inadequate treatment may include:

• not diagnosing or treating you promptly 
• not advising you of risks of procedures 
• giving you the wrong medicine. 

Medical negligence claims about cancer diagnoses and care are not common.

In most states and territories, you can generally make a negligence complaint up to 3 years from the date when the injury occurred. Exceptions may apply where an injury was not discovered until later. 

The process of proving negligence can be hard and expensive. You may have to go to court. If you think you may have a case, it’s important to get advice from a lawyer who specialises in medical negligence. To find a suitable lawyer, contact the law society in your state or territory.

At the time of diagnosis, I was working as an office manager, but afterwards we reassessed our life. I changed jobs and we moved house. I now work in aged care, which I love.

Jodie