South Australian Consolidated Acts

HEALTH AND COMMUNITY SERVICES COMPLAINTS ACT 2004 - SECT 25

25—Grounds on which a complaint may be made

        (1)         A complaint may be made (and may only be made under this Act) on one or more of the following grounds:

            (a)         that a health or community service provider has acted unreasonably by not providing a health or community service, or by discontinuing (or proposing to discontinue) a health or community service provided to a particular person;

            (b)         that the provision of a health or community service or of part of a health or community service was not necessary or was inappropriate;

            (c)         that a health or community service provider has acted unreasonably in the manner of providing a health or community service;

            (d)         that a health or community service provider has failed to exercise due skill;

            (e)         that a health or community service provider has failed to treat a health or community service user in an appropriate professional manner;

            (f)         that a health or community service provider has failed to respect a health or community service user's privacy or dignity;

            (g)         that a health or community service provider has acted unreasonably by failing to provide a health or community service user—

                  (i)         with sufficient information, in language and terms understandable to the user, on the treatment or service in order to enable the user to make an informed decision; or

                  (ii)         with a reasonable opportunity to make an informed choice of the treatment or services available; or

                  (iii)         with adequate information on the availability of further advice on the user's condition or of relevant education programs (if any); or

                  (iv)         with adequate information on the treatment or services received; or

                  (v)         with any prognosis that it would have been reasonable for the user to be provided with;

            (h)         that a health or community service provider has acted unreasonably by—

                  (i)         denying a health or community service user access to, or restricting the user's reasonable access to, records relating to the user that were in the provider's possession; or

                  (ii)         not making available to a health or community service user information about the user's condition that the health service provider was able to make available;

                  (i)         that a health or community service provider has acted unreasonably in disclosing information in relation to a health or community service user to a third person;

            (j)         that a health or community service provider has acted unreasonably by not taking proper action in relation to a complaint made to him or her by the user about a provider's action of a kind referred to in this section;

            (k)         that a health or community service provider has acted in any other manner that is inconsistent with the Charter;

            (l)         that a health or community service provider has acted in any other manner that did not conform with the generally accepted standard of service delivery expected of a provider of the kind of service to which the complaint relates.

        (2)         Nothing in subsection (1) requires a health or community service provider—

            (a)         to act, or to provide advice or information with respect to a matter, outside the field of expertise associated with the provider's profession or occupational group; or

            (b)         to alter, or to hand over a copy of, medical records in the provider's possession.

        (3)         For the purposes of subsection (1), information appropriately provided to a person lawfully acting on behalf of a health or community service user at the time the information is provided will be taken to have been appropriately provided to the health or community service user.

        (4)         Subsection (1)(i) does not apply in relation to the disclosure of information to—

            (a)         a legal practitioner in connection with a related legal matter; or

            (b)         an insurer who has an appropriate interest in the information; or

            (c)         any other person of a prescribed class.

        (5)         If a complaint relates to an act or omission of a volunteer while working for another person or body, the complaint will be taken to be a complaint against the other person or body (as the case may be) and the volunteer cannot be required to participate in any proceedings under this Act and in particular cannot be the subject of the exercise of any power under Part 6 Division 2.