South Australians’ right to make a complaint is defined by law.
Under the Health and Community Services Complaints Act 2004, a service provider has a legal obligation to respond to a complaint.
Consumers have a right to complain about any aspect of their interaction with providers.
This may include difficulties in accessing a service, administrative issues, communication difficulties, inappropriate behaviour, lack of respect for individual rights, or treatment and care provided.
Often, people complain about services because they feel something has gone wrong and they would like providers to fix it.
Many complaints are a result of poor communication between the consumer and the service provider.
Very few people who complain want to get involved in litigation or seek compensation.
Litigation is often used as a last resort when all other efforts have failed.
In many cases people want:
- an apology
- an explanation
- information
- a problem solved
- to prevent something happening to someone else
- to improve services for themselves and others in the future.
Feedback can provide an opportunity for improvement. Consider whether complaints expose inadequacies in policy or procedure that need to be fixed to avoid repeat complaints.
The complaints process helps:
- satisfy consumers of your service by being responsive to their concerns
- to increase providers' understanding of consumer perspectives
- build trust and confidence among consumers, their families, caregivers, and advocates
- providers to develop professionally by making continuous improvements to services.
