Improving experiences when making a health complaint

05 Aug 2024

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission), the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the National Boards have worked on a joint project to explore opportunities to improve the consumer experience of making a health complaint in Australia. 

Both organisations wanted to get a better understanding of the barriers that consumers face when making a healthcare complaint and to discover what they can do to support consumers going forward. 

The final report has now been published along with supporting resources for practitioners and the public about navigating healthcare complaints. The project found that the complexity of the complaints system is experienced for consumers with a huge weight of responsibility sitting with them to understand how it works. Consumers are also experiencing barriers, whether it be social, economic or cultural that are affecting their ability to make a complaint and want a system that is focused on their needs rather than administrative processes.  

What we’ve done 

To improve experiences for those going through a complaint process, the Commission and Ahpra have: 

• updated our websites to clarify the process of making a complaint 
• developed three animations to give clear information to the public about how and where to make a health complaint  
• developed a ‘Tips for consumers when making a complaint’ webpage and fact sheet 
• developed Healthcare complaints - where to make a complaint (downloadable fact sheet) , and
• created a complaints checklist for practitioners to help effectively handle feedback and complaints from their patients or clients. 

We will continue to make improvements to our websites and consumer resources. In some states and territories, work is being explored to develop a targeted local resource about complaints options.