3. How to make a complaint directly to a hospital

There are several ways you can have your complaint heard and responded to by the hospital.

A full list of hospitals and their feedback department contacts is at the bottom of this page. 

You may find these resources useful in your complaint efforts: 

1. Care Opinion: https://www.careopinion.org.au

This is a moderated platform run by an independent non profit organisation that takes your feedback directly to the hospital. Typically you will receive a response from the hospital within 72 hours of it being posted. The team moderate it before posting it so it is not immediately displayed. As all stories are moderated before publishing, please consider this when writing. For example,  critical stories will not be published with names included, they will be edited out. Some stories may not be published but you will be able to discuss this with Care Opinion. You can see their Moderation Policy here.

The Care Opinion website allows you to post your story, positive or negative, anonymously. The health service is identified but you remain anonymous. This story is published to the website where you, and everyone else can track its progress from your story being read, responded to, and a change made if necessary. The feedback is read by the highest level of health service management, so it is one of the most effective ways to make your voice count.
You can also email them at info@careopinion.org.au

We have advocated for this platform, also used in the United Kingdom and Ireland, because its transparency really changes the game. See this page for more information.

2. The consumer liaison/patient feedback service

Each hospital in Western Australia has a feedback department. These departments are made up of staff within the hospital who can help facilitate patient and family services within the hospital, as well as take down, investigate and respond to complaints about the hospitals service. There is a full list of these departments on this link or at the end of this document: https://www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/U_Z/WA-Health-patient-consumer-liaison-contacts

The rural hospitals complaints are managed via https://www.wacountry.health.wa.gov.au/About-us/Contact-us/Provide-feedback; a list of the regions and their contact details is available on this website.
You can email, call, submit online or post a complaint to these departments, and you have the right to be heard and to have your concerns and complaints recorded and responded to.
If you call, make sure to ask for a copy of the complaint in writing, and request a response in writing as well. If you would like a meeting with the health professional/s who were involved, you can also request this.  You can either phone or write to the individual hospital or health service. See their details below. 

3. If you are unhappy with the response from either option, you can escalate to AHPRA or HaDSCO:

AHPRA:
https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Notifications.aspx
AHPRA is the overarching body for all health professionals in Australia. They handle registrations and concerns/notifications regarding specific health practitioners. AHPRA is not able to get an apology or recognition from the medical professional, but they are able to investigate and put conditions on a professional’s practice, suspend or terminate their registration, and implement other disciplinary actions.
They work from a public safety perspective and engage directly with the practitioner.

HADSCO:
https://www.hadsco.wa.gov.au/Make-a-Complaint
HaDSCO is the overarching body for all health and disability service complaints in WA. They can investigate and provide explanations, apologies, changes in policy, refunds, access to services, education for the medical professionals and conciliation. HaDSCO will also communicate with AHPRA if required, and they operate with services in general.
Please include as much information as you have with the forms; you can write in a separate document and send that with the form if there is not enough room.
Also include the communication you have had previously with the health service, as HaDSCO will likely require you to have already submitted a complaint to the service previously.

The following options are listed as outcomes for HaDSCO processes, however it is not guaranteed that any or all of the selected outcomes will be achieved. 

• Explanation
• Access to service
• Apology
• Adequate service
• Change in policy or procedure
• Counselling/other support
• Refund/waiver of fees
• Disciplinary action
• Conciliation
• Training/education for service provider
• The option for ‘other’ – in which you can write your own.

If at any point you require advocacy assistance with your complaint and its resolution, you can contact us, the Health Consumers Council, for advice on 08 9221 3422 (extension 1), or via advocacy@hconc.org.au

To learn more about complaints in the public system, you can download the Complaints Management Policy here.

Public Western Australian Health Feedback Services 

North Metropolitan Health Service

South Metropolitan Health Service

East Metropolitan Health Service

Child and Adolescent Health Feedback Service

Perth Children’s Hospital

Title: Child and Family Engagement Services
Address: Perth Children’s Hospital, Locked Bag 2010, Nedlands WA 6909
Telephone: (08) 6456 0032
Email: cahs.feedback@health.wa.gov.au
Website: Perth Children’s Hospital (external site)

Country/Rural Feedback Services

WA Country Health Metro Office (they can link you to appropriate rural service)

189 Wellington Street, Perth WA 6000
PO Box 6680, East Perth Business Centre WA 6892
Telephone: +61 8 9223 8500
Facsimile: +61 8 9223 8599
Toll Free: 1800 629 028

Email: WACHS.SafetyQualityPerformance@health.wa.gov.au.

OR

Private Metropolitan Feedback Services

Saint John of God (all hospitals)