Feedback, compliments or complaints

If you have concerns or questions about your clinical condition or current treatment plan or are an inpatient
Please ask to speak with a senior staff member on the ward, area or your current treating team to see if the problem can be resolved immediately. Please don’t be afraid to ask questions about your care plan and treatment.

If you are an outpatient and worried about your condition worsening
Please see your general practitioner (GP) who may provide a more urgent referral.

If you are unsure who to contact with questions relating to your current treatment plan
Please contact our Patient and Family Liaison Service during business hours for assistance (see contact details at bottom of page).

• Talk to the staff caring for you.
• Complete an online feedback form. Some services have paper feedback forms – ask our staff to provide you with a form or get one from main reception areas.
• Contact our Patient and Family Liaison Service (see contact details at the bottom the page).

We love to hear when one of our staff or teams have gone above and beyond when caring for you in hospital. All compliments are shared with the staff member or team mentioned. To share compliments about our staff:

• talk to your healthcare team or the manager of the area
• complete an online feedback form. Some services have paper feedback forms – ask our staff to provide you with a form or get one from main reception areas
• leave a written message or card for the staff.

To assist in resolving your concerns as promptly as possible, the Patient and Family Liaison Service will endeavor to liaise with relevant hospital staff who may address your concerns directly with you.

Providing the following details assists us with investigating your concerns:

• Your personal contact details, although you can remain anonymous if you wish.
• What incident occurred and where.
• When the incident took place (date/time).
• If applicable, the names or roles of the staff involved (if you know them).
• What would you like to see happen as a result of sharing your feedback.

The Patient and Family Liaison Service will acknowledge your complaint in writing or by telephone within 5 working days.

The service facilitates investigations by the appropriate/relevant area and endeavours to ensure you receive a timely response to your concerns. Whilst we aim to facilitate a response to your concerns as soon as possible, it may take up to 6 weeks to complete a formal investigation. You will be kept informed of any delays in meeting this timeline.

Where possible, the Patient and Family Liaison Service may ask senior hospital staff to address matters directly with you.

Please be assured all complaint correspondence is recorded confidentially and filed separately to your medical records.

If you are dissatisfied with our response you may wish to contact the Health and Disability Services Complaints Office (HaDSCO) (external site), an independent agency which investigates complaints about health services.

You can share your experience publicly or anonymously via Care Opinion (external site). Care Opinion is a social media platform where you can provide feedback about your experience, or the experience of someone you know, with one of our hospitals or our health service.

Anyone can use Care Opinion – it is available to all consumers. By sharing your story on Care Opinion we get the opportunity to:

• listen and respond in ‘real time’ to your experiences
• use the feedback to improve the quality of our services
• strengthen relationships with our patients, their families, carers, staff and the community.

We are notified when a consumer comments about our hospitals or health services and our senior staff then respond to patient stories on behalf of the health service.

Fiona Stanley Fremantle Hospitals Group uses the statewide MySay Healthcare Survey to measure our patient’s experience of the care and treatment they received during their time as a public patient in hospital.

If you were recently an overnight or day procedure patient, you may receive an SMS inviting you to participate in this brief (5 minute) online survey. Learn more about the My Healthcare Survey (external site).

• To arrange for a professional interpreter, call the:
  • Fiona Stanley Hospital Helpdesk on 6152 2222
  • Fremantle Hospital switchboard on 9431 3333.
• Request an interpreter and speak to your healthcare team about your feedback.
• Write to us in your own language.

Health Consumers’ Council (external site)
Unit 6 Wellington Fair 40 Lord Street, East Perth WA 6004
Phone: 9221 3422
Freecall: 1800 620 780
Fax: 9221 5435

Health and Disability Services Complaints Office (HaDSCO) (external site)
GPO Box B61 Perth WA 6838
Phone: 6551 7600
Fax: 6551 7630
Teletext phone: 6551 7640
Freecall: 1800 813 583
Email HADSCO