Guide to Complaint Handling in Health Care Services

Key principle – desired practice Describe current practice Action required – by whom, when
6. Transparency and accountability (continued)
Relevant key individuals are promptly
informed of complaints.
Consumers are informed of the outcome
of the complaint.
Information on trends identified by
aggregated complaints data is publicly
available, e.g. through the Quality of
Care Report or annual report.
7. Privacy and confidentiality
All complaints are handled according to
the requirements of the Health Records
Act 2001 and Information Privacy Act
2000.
Information gathered during the
complaint process is used only in order to
deal with and resolve the complaint or to
address broader issues arising from
the complaint.
Information is shared with staff only
on a ‘need-to-know’ basis.
36 Setting up your system/tools