Feedback and Complaints Policy

St Giles Society Limited are entrusted to deliver high-quality and safe services that meet the needs and expectations of our clients and families. We value feedback and recognise that complaints are an important opportunity for us to learn, improve, and provide better outcomes for our clients and those we serve.

Our Feedback and Complaints Policy drives our commitment to clients and families, and outlines our approach to receiving feedback, and managing, and resolving complaints in a fair, timely, and respectful manner.

Feedback and Complaints Management Objectives

Our feedback and complaints management objectives are to:

• provide clear and accessible avenues for our clients and families to share their experiences, provide feedback and raise complaints,
• ensure that all feedback and complaints are handled in a timely, respectful, and fair and equitable manner whereby they are provided with a response that is meaningful and addresses their concerns, and
• use feedback and complaints as an opportunity to learn and continuously improve our services.

Definitions

To assist, we have provided the following key definitions that may assist when reviewing our Feedback and Complaints Policy:

• Complaint: An expression of dissatisfaction or grievance made by a client, family member, carer, or advocate regarding the quality of care, service provision, or operational practices of our organisation.

• Concern: An issue or matter raised by a client, family member, carer, or advocate that may not necessarily be a complaint, but requires attention or clarification.

• Feedback: Information or comments provided by clients, families, carers, or advocates about their experiences with our organisation, which can be positive, negative, or suggestive.

Complaints Management System

Our complaints management system consists of robust procedures and escalation avenues. Its primary purpose is to:

• Capture relevant information and details such as but not limited to date, time, location, individuals involved and complaint type
• Facilitate prompt acknowledgement and response to feedback and complaints
• Support prompt and effective internal reviews, investigations and resolution of matters
• Enable data analysis and identification of trends and patterns
• Inform continuous improvement initiatives and organisational learning
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and standards

Our complaints management system adheres to the requirements of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Complaints Management and Resolution) Rules 2018 and reflects the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission “Effective Complaint Handling Guidelines”.

Sharing Feedback, Raising Concerns and Lodging a Formal Complaint

We encourage all clients and families to share their experiences, provide feedback and raise concerns with us at any point throughout their engagement of our services. This can be done through the following channels:

• Sharing feedback verbally with a member of our workforce
• Requesting contact with our operational leaders and/or management to express concerns
• Placing your concerns in writing to your known contact and/or via feedback@stgiles.org.au

To escalate a concern and lodge a formal complaint,

• Request a meeting (whether this is in person or via phone) to discuss your complaint with a member of our management team.
• Submit a written complaint to the Organisation via your known contact and/or via a member of our Senior Leadership Team. Written complaints can be emailed through to feedback@stgiles.org.au, hand delivered to one of our regional offices.

Clients and families may also choose to provide feedback anonymously, and avenues exist for this to be achieved whereby you can contact us via 1300 278 455 and speak to a member of our team, without identifying yourself.

When deciding whether to share feedback or raise a concern or complaint anonymously, please be aware that anonymity may limit our ability to investigate and respond to the matters raised. St Giles encourages you to disclose your identity when raising concerns, as this provides us with an opportunity to adequately address the matter raised and in turn, repair relationships and regain the trust of clients and families impacted.

Further to the above, St Giles provides opportunities at regular intervals throughout the client journey, in a variety of methods to encourage clients and families share their experiences. This information is collated and used in conjunction with other sources of data and metrics to monitor the quality and safety of our services delivered.

Responding to Feedback, Concerns and Complaints

We have fully trained staff who use a person-centred approach to resolve issues, and will formally acknowledge your concern and/or complaint within 3 days.

Clients and families can expect to be:

• fully informed of their right to provide feedback and raise concerns
• provided a safe environment within which to make a complaint
• supported in their individual, cultural and linguistic needs to help them to understand and participate in the process
• treated fairly when making a complaint
• supported in the complaint handling process, ensuring all parties work together to identify your desired goal/outcome in an attempt to resolve the concern
• provided with an opportunity to have a support person to assist or represent you during the process or as the key contact for your complaint
• treated in a manner that protects their privacy and respects confidentiality
• kept up to date at all stages of the process
• informed of their right to raise concerns and matters with external bodies, such as but not limited to their funding bodies, the NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission and/or Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

Where required by law, any concern raised that identifies a possible commitment of a criminal offence will be referred to law enforcement and/or other regulatory bodies.

In addition, clients and families should be reassured that they will not experience any retribution as a result of making a complaint and actively providing feedback to St Giles.

If clients and families are not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint, requests can be made for St Giles to undertake an internal reconsideration of the decision. Our staff will also assist clients and families in accessing external complaint resolution mechanisms, such as but not limited to advocacy services. 

Right to Advocacy Support

Clients have the right to, and are encouraged to access advocacy services, and may choose to be supported by an independent advocate. Our staff will assist clients and families to source information and contact advocacy services as required.

The four Tasmanian advocacy services are:

• Advocacy Tasmania Inc.
• Association for Children with Disability TAS Inc.
• Citizen Advocacy
• Speak Out Association of Tasmania

Complaints Resolution.

Every effort will be made to resolve concerns and complaints that are raised, as we understand the importance of having answers. Where answers can’t be determined, we also acknowledge that initiating and following through on meaningful actions to prevent the issues from re-occurring are what matter most.

In some instances, St Giles may not be able to resolve the complaint, however we recognise the importance of clients and families feeling heard and having their experiences acknowledged.

As mentioned previously, where clients and families are not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint, they are entitled to escalate the matter through external avenues.

External Avenues

St Giles encourages all clients and families to reach out to their funding bodies to seek additional support and raise the concerns, and where appropriate will support families to identify further external avenues.

Several key contacts are provided below, however this list is not all inclusive:   

NDIS Commission

For NDIS funded clients, they may also choose to submit a complaint to the NDIS Commission. 

A complaint can be made to the NDIS Commission by:

• Phoning: 1 800 035 544 or TTY 133 677.  Interpreters can be arranged.
• Phoning: National Relay Service and ask for 1 800 035 544.
• Completing a complaint contact form, available from their website: www.ndiscommission.gov.au

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)

For clients receiving Allied Health services, they may also choose to submit a complaint regarding a registered health practitioner to Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). A complaint can be made to the AHPRA by:

• Phoning: 1 300 419 495. Interpreters can be arranged.
• Phoning: National Relay Service and ask for 1 300 419 495.
• Completing a complaint contact form, available from their website: www.ahpra.gov.au

Speech Pathology Australia

For participants receiving Speech Pathology services, you may also choose to submit a complaint regarding a registered health practitioner to Speech Pathology Australia. A complaint can be made to Speech Pathology Australia by:

• Phoning: 1 300 368 835. Interpreters can be arranged.
• Phoning: National Relay Service and ask for 1 300 368 835.
• By Emailing: office@speechpathologyaustralia.org.au
• Further information can be found through their website: https://speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

Version 1.0 31- January 2025 – Approved by CEO