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1. Home
2. Hospitals
3. Your Health Care Concerns

Your Health Care Concerns

Patient Expectations | Tips for Safer Health Care | Privacy | Make a complaint | Pay a compliment | Letter writing tips

Patient Expectations

You can expect appropriate treatment for your condition, the best possible care at all times, to be treated with respect, to talk to someone immediately about your concerns.

The NSW Patient Safety and Clinical Quality Program outlines what you might reasonably expect if you are admitted as a patient to a hospital or require treatment from a health service:

1. Appropriate treatment for your condition when you need it
2. The best possible care at all times, based on the latest evidence
3. To be treated with respect and have easy and honest communication with the doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who are providing care to you
4. To be looked after by clinicians who have the necessary clinical skills for the work that they do
5. Those who provide care to you are well-supported and part of effective teams, and have access to the resources (including equipment and information) they need to do their work
6. Systems are designed to prevent inadvertent or accidental harm to you while in hospital
7. If you have concerns, you will be able to talk to someone immediately and have your concerns addressed to your satisfaction
8. If something goes wrong with your care, that there is a system in place to openly report, investigate and fix the underlying problems so that others are not harmed. In addition, you will be told openly and honestly what went wrong and receive an apology
9. Reassurance that there is an external body evaluating the safety of care in hospitals and working to improve quality and safety in the NSW health system.

Patient expectations have been incorporated into standards and performance measures developed to monitor the effectiveness of the implementation of the NSW Patient Safety and Clinical Quality Program.

Details about your rights and responsibilities: Your Health Services

Tips for Safer Health Care

Privacy

Make a complaint

Health is an important issue in the community and NSW Health is committed to ensuring that it provides the best care possible to consumers.

It is important for you and your family to say what you think about the health services you receive in New South Wales - especially if you were not satisifed with them.

There are four ways you can raise any questions or concerns about your treatment in hospital or community health service:

1.   Let the hospital know about your concern in the first instance

Experience shows that complaints are best resolved locally. This helps people to maintain a good relationship with their health service provider.

If you have a concern or a complaint we suggest that in the first instance you should discuss the problem with the health service provider-either in person or on the telephone. Tell the health service provider about your concerns and ask if they can help.

We understand that in some cases the issues to be discussed are upsetting or distressing but it is more effective if you can be calm and clear about your concerns and what you would like to happen to address them. You might like to keep a note of the time and date of your discussions, what was discussed, the outcomes of the conversation, and what, if any, agreement was reached.

2.   Contact the hospital complaints officer

If you don't feel comfortable discussing your concern with the manager or those involved, you can contact the hospital's designated complaints officer. The complaints contact officer will:

• identify the main concerns you have about the care you received
• assist with any specific needs you may have whilst in hospital
• answer any questions you have about services, hospital policies and procedures
• ensure your complaint is treated confidentially
• keep you informed about the process and outcome of your complaint.

Complaints contact officers are available Monday to Friday, during business hours. For assistance outside of these hours, contact the director of nursing or senior nurse on duty.

To find a hospital or health service, go to Health Services on our website. If you are contacting by telephone, ask to speak with the designated complaints officer for the facility.

3.  Contact the Area Health Service directly, preferably in writing

To complain about a non hospital-based service or if you are not satisfied with how a complaint has been managed, you can put your concern in writing to the Director of Clinical Governance of your Area Health Service.

In your letter, set out clearly and accurately what happened, when it happened and what your concerns are. Tell the health service provider what you would like them to do about your concerns. Keep a copy of the letter for your records.

4.   Lodge a complaint with the Health Care Complaints Commission

The Health Care Complaints Commission is independent of the public health system. It receives and assesses complaints about health care practitioners and health care services (generally referred to as health service providers). Anyone can lodge a complaint with the Commission.

The Commission will explain the process of making a complaint and provide assistance if you need it. Complaints must be in writing and may be made about the professional conduct of a health service provider that affects the care and treatment of an individual.

If you prefer a language other than English ring the HCCC via their Telephone Interpreter Service on 131 450.

Health Care Complaints Commission

Private Health Care Complaints

Pay a compliment

Letter writing tips

Tips for writing a letter of complaint to a health professional or health service

Everyone has the right to make a complaint. You can complain if you feel your rights have been denied or you have received sub-standard care. Raising your concerns directly with the practitioner or health service often works to everyone's benefit.

Writing a letter is one way of bringing your concerns to the attention of the practitioner or health service. A letter allows the practitioner or manager time to consider the issues and prepare a response.

It is usual that a practitioner or manager may take a few weeks to provide a response. If you do not receive a response, you can telephone the person to whom you addressed your letter to find out what is happening with your complaint.

Below are some questions to help you determine what information will be useful to include in your letter. Taking time to think about each of these questions will assist you to express your ideas clearly that improve the likelihood that you will achieve a satisfactory resolution of your concerns.

Who was involved?

Remember to include:

• your own name, address and telephone number
• if you are writing on behalf of someone else, note their name and your relationship to them, eg. friend, son, wife, and whether they know you are writing the letter
• the name and title of the health professional/s involved or the name of the health facility.

What happened?

Briefly describe the events leading to the complaint and note relevant dates and times.

Where did things go wrong?

Make a list of your specific concerns (eg. breach of confidentiality, lack of information, the health professional was in a hurry). If the list is long, number the items in order of importance.

Why are you making this complaint?

Look back over your list of concerns and note the result you are hoping to achieve (eg. an apology, information about your condition, an explanation, further treatment, to provide feedback about the service you received, changes to improve the service).

What questions would you like answered?

• How do you want your concerns addressed? You might consider a meeting with the health provider to discuss face-to-face the issues you have raised and to work out ways to resolve your concerns.
• Do you want the practitioner or health service to provide a written reply?
• Would you be happy to talk about the matter over the telephone?

If at any time you are not making progress with your letter, you may find it helpful to talk things over with a friend, family member or to have a break and come back later. The letter does not have to be perfect. If you prefer, you can ask to meet with the practitioner or manager of a health service to provide additional information.

Once you have answered the questions above you have the material needed to write a letter of complaint.

It is usually a good idea to read over what you have written to see if there is anything you want to add or change before you sign the letter. Always keep a copy for yourself before sending the letter to the practitioner or manager of the health service.

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