HEALTH CARE COMPLAINTS ACT 1993 - SECT 28
Notice of action taken or decision made following assessment
HEALTH CARE COMPLAINTS ACT 1993 - SECT 28
Notice of action taken or decision made following assessment
28 Notice of action taken or decision made following assessment
(1) The Commission must give the parties to the complaint notice in writing of
the action taken or decision made by the Commission following its assessment
of the complaint. The notice is to be given within 14 days after the
Commission takes that action or makes that decision.
(2) If the Commission
decides to investigate a complaint against a health practitioner, the
Commission must give notice in writing of the decision--
(a) if the health
practitioner has provided the health service in respect of which the complaint
is made under a contract or agreement with a person who is, or who conducts, a
hospital or other health care facility, to the person, or
(b) if the health
practitioner has provided the health service in the capacity of an employee,
to the health practitioner's employer.
(3) If the Commission decides to
investigate a complaint against a health practitioner, the Commission may give
notice in writing of the decision to a person who currently employs or engages
the health practitioner as a health practitioner.
(4) This section does not
require the Commission to give notice of action taken or a decision made to
investigate a complaint if it appears to the Commission, on reasonable
grounds, that the giving of the notice will--
(a) prejudice the investigation
of the complaint, or
(b) place the health or safety of a client at risk, or
(c) place the complainant or another person at risk of intimidation or
harassment, or
(d) unreasonably prejudice the employment of the health
practitioner in the case of a health practitioner who has provided the health
service in the capacity of an employee.
(5) Despite subsection (4), the
Commission must give the notice if the Commission considers on reasonable
grounds that--
(a) it is essential, having regard to the principles of natural
justice, that the notice be given, or
(b) the giving of the notice is
necessary to investigate the matter effectively or it is otherwise in the
public interest to do so.
(6) If the Commission decides that subsection (4)
applies to a complaint but that some form of notice could be given of the
complaint without affecting the health or safety of a client or putting any
person at risk of intimidation or harassment, the Commission may give such a
form of notice.
(7) On the expiration of each consecutive period of 60 days
after the Commission has decided to investigate a complaint, the Commission
must undertake a review of a decision not to give notice under this section
(or to give notice in some other form as referred to in subsection (6)),
unless notice under this section has already been given or the Commission has
discontinued dealing with the complaint.
(8) The Commission's notice to the
parties to the complaint must include--
(a) advice that the complainant may
ask the Commission to review the decision made after assessing the complaint
if the decision is--
(i) not to investigate the complaint, or
(ii) to refer
the complaint to the Health Secretary under section 25 or 25A, or
(iii) to
refer the complaint to another person or body under section 25B or 26, or
(iv) to discontinue dealing with the complaint under section 27, and
(b) the
reasons for the decision.
(9) The Commission may review a decision made after
assessing a complaint if requested to do so by the complainant, and must do so
if the request is made within 28 days after the complainant is notified of the
decision.
Note : A complainant also has the right under section 41 (3) to
request a review of a decision made by the Commission under section 39 at the
end of its investigation of a complaint.
