Complaint outcomes

We see complaints as an invaluable way to identify and address problems with how registered health professions are regulated in Australia.

We work closely with complainants to understand what they are seeking from making a complaint.

Generally, we strive to achieve outcomes for complaints at the individual and system levels.

Individual outcomes

People make complaints to our office for many reasons. We achieve a wide range of outcomes for individual complaints, some of which are specific to the complainant and the issue they have raised.

We aim to resolve complaints as informally and quickly as possible. This could mean, for example, that the complainant and organisation being complained about agree on a way to resolve the concerns without the need for a formal investigation.

In some cases, our office may:

• speed up the processing of a delayed matter
• suggest that an apology be offered
• suggest that a decision be reconsidered
• decide that the handling of the matter was reasonable and take no further action.

In 2023–24 the most common investigation outcome for complaints to the Ombudsman was our office providing feedback to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) about its handling of a matter, followed by our office providing a further explanation to the complainant.