Make a complaint to the Commissioner
There are three simple steps to make a complaint about how Ahpra, a National Board or accreditation organisation, including a specialist medical college, used or shared personal information
Make a complaint to the Commissioner
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Step oneMake sure you’re in the right place
Find out whether we’re the best place to contact about your concern.
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Step 2Make a complaint to the organisation if you can
Make sure you’re in the right place
The Commissioner and our office can consider and investigate concerns about how the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), a National Board or an accreditation organisation, including a specialist medical college, have used personal information or breached a person's privacy.
Our office can also consider complaints to the Ombudsman about how a matter was handled by Ahpra, a National Board or an accreditation organisation. Sometimes these complaints raise concerns that relate to a person's privacy.
Learn more about other health complaints
Make a complaint to the organisation if you can
Please make a formal complaint to Ahpra or the relevant accreditation organisation before contacting our office if possible. You can call Ahpra on 1300 419 495 or make a complaint via Ahpra's website. Find contact details for an accreditation organisation.
This step gives the organisation the opportunity to address your concerns before we become involved.
If the organisation does not provide a timely response or if you are unhappy with the response, you can make a complaint to us.
Make a complaint to us
Our professional and empathetic staff are ready to listen to your concerns. Contact us by phone, email or post.
You may like to consider the following questions when preparing to lodge your complaint:
- Why am I making a complaint?
- What do I want as a result of making this complaint?
- What information can I provide to support my complaint?
Don’t forget to include your completed complaint form if you can. This will help to process your complaint more quickly.
Phone
Call us on 1300 795 265.
Online
Fill out our online complaint form.
Please make sure to:
- read and complete all questions you can
- have all the information you would like to attach to your complaint ready because you cannot save and return to the form
- email us with any new information you would like to add or if a file is too big to attach.
Email us at:
Post
Download a complaint form and send it to:
National Health Practitioner Ombudsman
GPO Box 2630
Melbourne VIC 3001
Need help to make a complaint?
Please feel free to contact us using:
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the Translating and Interpreter Service (TIS) on 131 450
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the National Relay Service. For TTY users phone 133 677 then ask for 1300 795 265. For Speak and Listen users phone 1300 555 727 then ask for 1300 795 265. For Internet Relay users connect to the National Relay Service then ask for 1300 795 265.
If you need other support to make a complaint, please let us know and we will do our best to help.
Making a confidential or anonymous complaint
Our office accepts complaints from people who would not like to share some of their personal information (such as their name) with our office, or with other relevant organisations (such as Ahpra, a National Board or an accreditation organisation).
When deciding whether to lodge a confidential or anonymous complaint, it is important to know that it can be difficult (and sometimes impossible) for our office to deal with complaints that are anonymous or confidential. This is because we may not be able to gather relevant information about the specific concerns.
Learn more about making a confidential or anonymous complaint
More information
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Commissioner complaintsCommissioner complaints
The Commissioner can assist with complaints about how Ahpra, the National Boards or accreditation organisations, including specialist medical colleges, have collected, used or disclosed personal information.
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Use of personal informationUse of personal information
We strive to improve how your personal information is protected by Ahpra, the National Health Practitioner Boards and accreditation organisations, such as specialist medical colleges.
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Ombudsman complaintsOmbudsman complaints
The Ombudsman can assist with complaints about how Ahpra and the National Boards have handled notification or registration matters, personal information and FOI requests. We also can also assist with concerns about how accreditation organisations (such as specialist medical colleges) have handled some matters, including the accreditation of an education provider, program of study or training site or the assessment of overseas qualified practitioners.