Office of the Health Services Commissioner Annual Report 2001-02

efficient ways of handling complaints about registered practitioners. This process
avoids double handling and ensures the legislative requirements are met. The
Commissioner also discusses relevant issues with the Ombudsman, the Mental Health
Review Board, the Intellectual Disability Review Panel, the Office of the Public
Advocate, the Coroner, the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity and other relevant
authorities. These links assist our work, especially where the management of
complaints involves more than one office.
The Commissioner places strong emphasis on promotion and training to improve
accessibility of the HSC to the public and health service providers. During the year
under review the HSC has been represented at many conferences and venues to
promote the work of the Office. The Commissioner gave addresses, lectures and
training at over 100 venues. Consumers of health services from the non metropolitan
regions, children and adolescents, Koori and Aboriginal Australians and people from
non English speaking backgrounds have been under represented as complainants and
an outreach program has been introduced to make the service accessible to them. The
HSC brochure has been produced in 15 languages. The employment of a full-time
Aboriginal liaison officer has assisted with this. Summary of her work appears in this
report.
OVERVIEW OF COMPLAINTS
Throughout this Annual Report anecdotal information has been used to illustrate the
types of complaints received. Details have been altered to protect confidentiality
and, wherever possible, actions taken or resolutions achieved have been indicated.
Outcomes cannot be indicated where the matter is still in progress.
PUBLIC INTEREST ISSUES
Complaints can indicate trends within the health care system that have implications
for the general public. Public interest is defined by the following criteria:
1. The circumstances outlined in the complaint are likely to affect a significant
number of people.
2. These circumstances impact on certain population groups.
3. The complaint is indicative of a systematic flaw or the result of a deficiency in
policy or procedures.
4. The complaint raises an issue that is individual in nature but that occurs
unreasonably often, suggesting a systemic problem exists.
These criteria have been used to highlight complaints as they move through the
system so the public interest issue may be given appropriate attention in conjunction
with the individual’s complaint. A review of complaints so labelled has highlighted a
number of issues.
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