Department of Health

Complaints about private health service establishments

Key messages

  • The patient, or someone representing them, can make a complaint about a Victorian private health facility.
  • Every private health facility has a complaints officer.
  • Patients, carers or family members are encouraged to raise their concerns with the health facility complaints officer.
  • If the patient, carer or family member is not satisfied by the response from the facility, they can escalate their concerns with the Health Complaints Commissioner or the Private Hospitals Unit at the department.

Raising concerns with the facility

Complaints about a:

  • private hospital
  • day procedure centre
  • mobile health service
  • bush nursing hospital
  • cosmetic provider

should be raised with the facility’s complaints officer first.

Every private health service establishment is required to have a complaints officer. The proprietor must take reasonable steps to make sure patients and staff know who the complaints officer is.

Making a complaint can be constructive because:

  • if a patient is not happy with their experience at a private health service establishment, this will alert the facility to a problem they might not know about.
  • if something has gone wrong, the facility can use the complaint as an opportunity to make improvements.
  • a complaint can not only result in a satisfactory explanation but also lead to improvements in the way the facility staff communicate with patients.

When the proprietor of a private health service establishment receives a complaint, they have to:

  • act on the complaint as quickly as possible.
  • deal with the complaint as discreetly as possible in the circumstances.
  • tell the patient what action will be taken.
  • take reasonable steps to make sure the patient is not adversely affected because they made a complaint.

Dissatisfaction with the private health service establishment’s response

If a patient is not satisfied with the facility’s response to their complaint, they can then direct it to the:

Reviewed 18 October 2024

Health.vic

On this site

Contact details

Postal address: GPO Box 4541, Melbourne 3001

Private Hospitals Unit Department of Health

privatehospitals@health.vic.gov.au
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