Health Practitioners
Australian Health Practitioner Registration Agency (AHPRA) is responsible for making sure that registered health practitioners meet the standards of good practice set for them by each of the National Boards. If they identify serious concerns about a health practitioner they can:
- manage the risk to the public
- make sure the practitioner understands what went wrong, so the same thing doesn’t happen again
- limit the practitioner’s registration in some way, to change the way they practise, and
- share the lessons from what happened with other practitioners to help keep the public safe.
If you are concerned about a health practitioner’s health, performance or conduct you can notify AHPRA about the practitioner. Click here for more information.
There are some things that National Boards and AHPRA can’t do.
AHPRA can’t:
- order a health practitioner to provide the treatment you want
- pay you compensation or order a health practitioner to pay you compensation or repay you
- order a health practitioner to give you access to your records
- make a health practitioner apologise to you
- conciliate between you and the health practitioner
- resolve complaints about health systems
- advocate for you or the practitioner, or
- investigate concerns about health service providers such as hospitals or community health centres.
You may make a complaint about any registered Health Practitioner who:
- did not provide safe care because their standard of professional conduct was too low
- does not have reasonable knowledge, skill or judgement or exercise enough care
- is not a suitable person to hold registration
- is or may be ill and pose a risk to the public
- has or may have broken the National Law
- has or may have breached a condition of their registration
- obtained their registration improperly
To inform AHPRA about your concern please click on the link: https://www.ahpra.gov.au/Notifications/Concerned-about-a-health-practitioner.aspx
Contact details: 1300 419 495, from outside Australia call +61 3 9275 9009
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
Website: www.aphra.gov.au
Public Health Services
Contact your local Queensland Health facility to see if the issue can be resolved locally first. If not ask to be referred to the Hospital and Health Service (HHS) complaints coordinator, who reviews feedback for all the facilities in their area.
The complaints coordinator will:
- acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days
- review your complaint
- contact you with possible options to resolve your complaint
- explain what will happen next.
Your complaint will be dealt with in a confidential manner and will only be discussed with the people directly involved. Your complaint will not be kept on your medical record.
Unresolved complaints
If you lodged a complaint with the Queensland Health facility and it was not resolved to your satisfaction, you may wish to contact the Office of the Health Ombudsman. This independent organisation reviews and investigates health complaints.
Private Health Services
To make a complaint about a private health service you should contact the hospital or health service provider directly. If you have lodged a complaint with the private health service and it hasn’t been resolved to your satisfaction, contact the Office of the Health Ombudsman. Click Here for information on complaints.
Health Ombudsman – The Health Ombudsman of Queensland is a statutory position that oversees the Office of the Health Ombudsman. The Health Ombudsman must act independently, impartially and in the public interest.
The Health Ombudsman is responsible for:
- receiving health service complaints and deciding on the relevant action to deal with them
- undertaking investigations or inquiries
- identifying and reporting
- assists in resolving health service complaints
- Provide public reports
Your complaint can be about any aspect of a health service, such as:
- diagnosis, treatment or care
- sharing your information without permission
- inappropriate behavior by a provider
- the quality of the health service provided
- how a provider has dealt with your complaint.
Click here for information on how to make a complaint
Phone: 133 OHO (133 646)
Email: complaints@oho.qld.gov.au
Website: www.oho.qld.gov.au