Registered osteopaths are expected to maintain appropriate standards of professional conduct. Should an osteopath fail to maintain the expected standard of professional conduct, then a complaint may be lodged concerning that osteopath.
Who may lodge complaints?
Any person may lodge a complaint.
What constitutes a complaint?
Complaints must be made in writing.
With whom are complaints lodged?
For more information please download the NSW Osteopaths Registration Board’s Complaints Process Guidelines.
Complaints may be lodged with either the Registrar of the Board, or with the Health Care Complaints Commission, the independent statutory body created by the Health Care Complaints Act 1993.
The contact details of the HCCC are as follows.
Commissioner
Health Care Complaints Commission
LMB 18
STRAWBERRY HILLS 2010
Telephone: (02) 92197444
Facsimile: (02) 92814585
E-mail: hccc@hccc.nsw.gov.au
Website: http://www.hccc.nsw.gov.au/
What happens after a complaint is lodged?
Irrespective of which organisation receives a complaint, the Board and the HCCC are required to advise each other of complaints received and consult with each other in assessing how the complaint should be dealt with. For this purpose the Board has established a Complaints Committee to consult with a representative of the HCCC in assessing complaints, and has delegated to the Committee the authority to make decisions with respect to complaints. Generally, the following are the range of options available to the Board and the HCCC in assessing complaints.
- Request further particulars.
The complainant may be requested to elaborate on the complaint.
- Discontinue dealing with.
The complaint may be considered trivial, frivolous, or vexatious
- Refer to the Director-General of the NSW Health Department.
The complaint may be referred to the Health Department for consideration.
- Refer to another person or body.
The complaint may be referred to another organisation for consideration.
The complaint may be referred to the Health Conciliation Registry, the statutory body created by the Health Care Complaints Act to conciliate complaints referred to it by the HCCC. Both the complainant and the osteopath the subject of the complaint must agree to this course of action.
If the complaint provides insufficient basis on which to make a decision it may be referred for an investigation by the HCCC. The complaint would be reassessed upon receipt of the further information.
- Refer to a Complaints Resolutions Officer.
The complaint may be referred to a Complaints Resolutions Officer to assist with direct resolution.
- Refer for direct/consultative resolution.
The matter may be referred to the osteopath concerned for direct/assisted resolution with the complainant.
If the Complaints Committee considers that the complaint does not involve the professional conduct of an osteopath or the provision of a service by an osteopath, the complainant will be advised to raise the matter with another organisation.
Is the osteopath notified?
Irrespective of whether the complaint is made to the Board or the HCCC, the Health Care Complaints Act provides for the HCCC to give written notice of the complaint to the osteopath concerned. Notification may be delayed if notification would prejudice the investigation or place a client or the complainant at risk.
What happens after a complaint is investigated?
After the HCCC has completed its investigations of matters referred to it for that purpose, the results of the investigation are the subject of further consultation between the HCCC and the Board's Complaints Committee. Generally, the following are the range of options available to the Board and the HCCC following an investigation.
- Further action not warranted
There may be no evidence which would provide grounds for disciplinary action, which raises a significant issue of public health and safety, or which raises a significant question as to appropriate care or treatment.
The HCCC uses peer reviewers to provide advice concerning the conduct complained of. In cases where a peer reviewer makes adverse comments relating to the osteopath's conduct, insufficient to warrant a disciplinary inquiry, the HCCC may write to the osteopath concerned and advise him or her of the peer reviewer's adverse comments.
In cases where a peer reviewer makes adverse comments relating to the osteopath's conduct, insufficient to warrant a disciplinary inquiry, the Committee may direct the osteopath concerned to attend a meeting of the Board, or the Complaints Committee, for counselling.
Depending upon the circumstances, the Board may set the matter down for a Board Inquiry, Osteopaths Care Assessment Committee, impaired Registrants Panel, or Osteopaths Tribunal to inquire into the matter further as appropriate.
Any decision to discipline an osteopath is ultimately made by the Board or Osteopaths Tribunal (in the case of serious complaints or appeals). Protective orders which may be imposed by the Board or Tribunal range from a caution to deregistration. Other options include requiring the osteopath to undertake a period of supervised practice or referral of the osteopath for medical or psychiatric treatment or counselling. |
