Complaints & Feedback

1. What is Feedback and What is a Complaint?

Feedback

Feedback includes compliments, suggestions, or general comments about our services. We welcome all feedback as it helps us understand what we're doing well and where we can improve.

Complaint

A complaint is when you express dissatisfaction about:

• The quality or delivery of our services
• How our staff treated you or communicated with you
• Our processes, policies, or decisions
• Billing, invoicing, or financial matters
• Privacy or confidentiality concerns
• Safety issues or incidents
• Any other aspect of our service that didn't meet your expectations

2. Your Rights When Making a Complaint

You have the right to:

• Be heard: Your complaint will be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly
• Be respected: We will treat you with dignity and respect throughout the process
• Confidentiality: Your complaint will be handled confidentially (subject to legal obligations)
• No reprisal: Making a complaint will not affect your services or how we treat you
• Support: You can have a support person, advocate, or family member help you
• Fair process: Your complaint will be handled impartially and without bias
• Timely response: We will respond within clear timeframes
• Appeal: You can escalate to external bodies if you're not satisfied with our response

3. How to Make a Complaint or Provide Feedback

You Can Also:

• Speak directly with your support worker or coordinator
• Request a meeting to discuss your concerns
• Ask a family member, advocate, or support person to contact us on your behalf
• Use a communication aid or interpreter if needed (we will arrange this)

4. Our Complaint Resolution Process

5. What Happens to Your Complaint?

Confidentiality

We treat all complaints confidentially. Information is only shared with people who need to know to investigate and resolve the complaint.

Documentation

We keep records of all complaints, investigations, and outcomes. These records are securely stored and used to:

• Track patterns and identify areas for improvement
• Meet our NDIS compliance and reporting obligations
• Demonstrate accountability and transparency

Serious Incidents

If your complaint involves a serious incident (harm, abuse, neglect, or serious breach of the NDIS Code of Conduct), we are required by law to report it to the NDIS Commission. We will inform you if this is necessary.

6. What If You're Not Satisfied?

If you're not happy with our response or how we handled your complaint, you have the right to escalate to external bodies.

7. Anonymous Complaints

You can make a complaint anonymously if you prefer. However, this may limit our ability to:

• Investigate thoroughly and gather your perspective
• Keep you informed of progress and outcomes
• Resolve the issue to your satisfaction

We encourage you to provide contact details so we can work with you, but we respect your right to remain anonymous.

8. Support for Making a Complaint

You don't have to make a complaint alone. You can get help from:

• Family or friends: Bring someone you trust for support
• Advocate: An independent advocate can speak on your behalf
• Support Coordinator: If you have one, they can help you navigate the process
• Interpreter or communication support: We can arrange language interpreters or communication aids

9. Complaints About Staff Conduct

If your complaint is about inappropriate behavior by a staff member, we take this very seriously. This includes:

• Disrespectful or rude behavior
• Breach of confidentiality
• Misconduct or unprofessional conduct
• Abuse, neglect, or exploitation
• Breach of the NDIS Code of Conduct

We will investigate immediately and may involve external authorities if required. Your safety and wellbeing are our top priority.

10. Continuous Improvement

We review complaints regularly to identify trends and opportunities to improve. Your feedback directly contributes to:

• Better training for our staff
• Improved policies and procedures
• Enhanced service quality and participant outcomes
• A safer, more respectful service environment

11. Compliments and Positive Feedback

We love hearing when things go well! If you're happy with our services, please let us know. Positive feedback:

• Motivates our staff and recognizes their hard work
• Helps us identify what we should keep doing
• Guides our recruitment and training programs
• Assists other participants in making informed choices

You can share compliments using any of the contact methods above.

12. Contact Information