Darcy's story

Darcy contacted our office to make a complaint about Ahpra’s handling of their FOI request. Darcy was seeking access to documents in relation to a notification they made about a practitioner.

After reviewing Darcy’s request, Ahpra determined it did not meet the requirements of a valid request under the FOI Act. Ahpra contacted Darcy to assist them to revise their request to allow Ahpra to respond to it.

Darcy contacted our office because they had sent several emails to Ahpra about their request that were not acknowledged or responded to. This included an email accepting Ahpra’s proposed revisions so Darcy could submit a valid request for access to documents.

Darcy provided consent for our office to transfer their complaint to Ahpra’s complaints team for a response in line with our early resolution transfer process.

Ahpra’s complaint response explained that Ahpra had undertaken a comprehensive search of its email systems and could not find Darcy’s emails. Ahpra, however, apologised that Darcy’s emails were not responded to and explained that a member of its FOI team would be in contact with Darcy to discuss their FOI request.

Ahpra apologised to Darcy that their earlier emails had not been received and that their request had been withdrawn as a result. Ahpra said it would open a new request and work to progress the matter urgently.

We acknowledged Darcy’s frustration at having to start the FOI process again. However, we recognised that Ahpra had responded to the issues raised and taken appropriate action to remedy Darcy’s concerns.

Ahpra’s subsequent review of its server records confirmed that Ahpra did not receive Darcy’s emails.