Speaking up if you have a complaint

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission have created a short Fact Sheet
for Support at Home participants and their supporters to give you information
about how to make a complaint.

The Commission provide some handy advice to participants to consider before
contacting their provider to discuss their concern. They recommend you write
notes with details of what happened so you can be clear about your concern,
and to stay calm when talking with us, even if you are frustrated or angry.
In our experience, most issues can be sorted out through a respectful and
honest conversation, and early intervention often leads to quicker solutions and
prevents issues from escalating.

As your Registered Provider, we follow a process called Open Disclosure. This
means that we must take action when something goes wrong and include you
(or the complainant on your behalf) in this process.
Open Disclosure means that you can expect us to:

• Check that you are OK and respond quickly to provide the support you need
• Talk with you about what happened and how it affects you
• Acknowledge the issue and apologise
• Find out and explain what happened
• Learn from the experience and make improvements so it doesn’t happen
  again.

We have policies and processes in place to ensure you are aware of how to
make a complaint, but we understand that it can be daunting for some people.
So if you need any help, you can call the Older Persons Advocacy Network on
1800 700 600 for support.

Or you can access the Commission’s Fact Sheet here