Complaints about private health service establishments

Raising concerns with the facility

Complaints about a:

• private hospital
• day procedure centre
• mobile health service
• bush nursing hospital
• cosmetic provider

should be raised with the facility’s complaints officer first.

Every private health service establishment is required to have a complaints officer. The proprietor must take reasonable steps to make sure patients and staff know who the complaints officer is.

Making a complaint can be constructive because:

• if a patient is not happy with their experience at a private health service establishment, this will alert the facility to a problem they might not know about
• if something has gone wrong, the facility can use the complaint as an opportunity to make improvements
• a complaint can not only result in a satisfactory explanation but also lead to improvements in the way the facility staff communicate with patients.

When the proprietor of a private health service establishment receives a complaint, they have to:

• act on the complaint as quickly as possible
• deal with the complaint as discreetly as possible in the circumstances
• tell the patient what action will be taken
• take reasonable steps to make sure the patient is not adversely affected because they made a complaint.

Dissatisfaction with the private health service establishment’s response

If a patient is not satisfied with the facility’s response to their complaint, they can then direct it to the:

• Health Complaints Commissioner - an independent Victorian body that investigates complaints about health service providers
• Private Hospitals Unit, which investigates complaints about the safety of patients and the quality of care in Victoria’s registered private health facilities.