• over the telephone
             
• at residents’ meetings attended by advocates
             
• at consumer and community group meetings attended by advocates
             
• through individual face-to-face meetings
             
• on our website www.qada.org.au
             
• via email info@qada.org.au
             
• in our Newsletter.
  

• unsure about your options

• feeling pressured to make a choice

• faced with a tough decision about the care you need

• not satisfied with the care you are receiving

• feeling confused about a care decision

• to complain and to take action to resolve disputes;

• to be free from reprisal, or a well-founded fear of reprisal, in any form for taking action to enforce his or her rights.

All facilities should have a complaints procedure in place to deal with any issues or concerns you may have without fear of retribution.

Also under the Charter all residents have the right;

• to have access to advocates and other avenues of redress

This means you have the right to an advocate of your choice, whether it is an advocate from QADA, a family member, or friend.

An advocate from QADA could support you at a meeting with the facility to raise, and try to resolve the issue you have.

You also have the right to make a complaint to The Aged Care Complaints Investigation Scheme.  They can investigate any complaints about a Australian Government subsidised aged care service and can be contacted on 1800 550 552.

A. The HACC standards say that you have the right to;

• Receive a quality service
• Have your comments valued and to make a confidential complaint if you are not happy with the services you receive.
• Have another person of your choice support you and advocate (speak) on your behalf.

The first step would be to raise this issue with the service coordinator.

If you do not feel comfortable doing this on your own, or you have already raised the issue with the service coordinator and are not satisfied with the outcome, then you have the right to advocacy support to raise the issue.

An advocate from QADA could support you at a meeting with the service provider by raising the issue, and looking at strategies to try and resolve the issue your satisfaction.