Health Services Commissioner Annual Report 2000/2001

Unsubstantiated 0% 0%
Remedial action 4% 1%
Fee waived/reduced 4% 3%
Procedural change 2% 5%
Explanation offered 51% 62%
Apology 2% 3%
The most effective means of resolving complaints is where the provider responds in a
timely and empathetic way. An apology, where appropriate, is also useful. Most
people who do lodge complaints want to know what went wrong and why, and
they want to make sure the same thing does not happen to someone else. In
other words, they are seeking quality improvements.
A man lodged a complaint about a podiatrist because the podiatrist had been
rough, he hurt him and made his toe bleed. The man wanted his money
refunded. The HSC sent the complaint to the podiatrist who contacted the man
and said he would refund the service fee. He also apologised. The podiatrist
refunded the money quickly and within five days of receiving the complaint it
was closed with both parties satisfied with the outcome.
RESOLUTION BY INVESTIGATORS
The Investigators’ role includes acting as team leaders for the Inquiry Officers and
this means the reading and accepting or declining of all new complaints into the office
and giving advice on the management of accepted complaints.
Most complaints (approximately two thirds) are resolved in the initial stages by
sending them to the service provider and asking for a response. Those that are not
resolved by this process are then assessed by the Investigators to see how they might
be resolved.
The options for resolution are informal resolution during assessment, referral to
conciliation or investigation by the Health Services Commissioner or external referral
to a professional registration board.
Resolution during assessment might involve the investigator contacting other treating
health services, obtaining medical records and reports, seeking expert opinions and
conducting meetings between the parties. Complainants may be assisted to obtain
their own evidence to support their case where they remain dissatisfied with
explanations offered by the service providers.
A family complained to the HSC, following the death of an elderly man, that his
general practitioner had failed to diagnose and treat his condition. The man had
collapsed and had been admitted to hospital but had died soon after admission.
The cause of death was heart failure that had been present for a number of
years.
In his response to the family, the general practitioner said that his patient had
been well aware of his heart condition but had declined to have any treatment
Health Services Commissioner Annual Report 2000/2001 28