COMPLAINTS

Registered Optometrists are expected to maintain appropriate standards of professional conduct. Should a registered optometrist fail to maintain the expected standard of professional conduct, then a complaint may be lodged concerning that optometrist.

Who may lodge complaints?

Any person may lodge a complaint.

What constitutes a complaint?

Complaints must be made in writing, and be verified by statutory declaration.

With whom are complaints lodged?

Complaints may be lodged with either the Registrar of the Board, or with the Health Care Complaints Commission, the independent statutory body created by the Health Care Complaints Act 1993.

The contact details of the HCCC are as follows.

What happens after a complaint is lodged?

Irrespective of which organisation receives a complaint, the Board and the HCCC are required to advise each other of complaints received and consult with each other in assessing how the complaint should be dealt with. For this purpose the Board has established a Complaints Committee to consult with a representative of the HCCC in assessing complaints, and delegated to the Committee the authority to make decisions with respect to complaints. Generally, the following are the range of options available to the Board and the HCCC in assessing complaints.

• Request further particulars - The complainant may be requested to elaborate on the complaint.
• Discontinue dealing with - The complaint may be considered trivial, frivolous, or vexatious.
• Refer to the Director-General of the NSW Health Department - The complaint may be referred to the Health Department for consideration.
• Refer to another person or body - The complaint may be referred to another organisation for consideration.
• Refer for conciliation - The complaint may be referred to the Health Conciliation Registry, the statutory body created by the Health Care Complaints Act to conciliate complaints referred to it by the HCCC. Both the complainant and the optometrist the subject of the complaint must agree to this course of action.
• Refer for investigation:preliminary inquiries - If the complaint provides insufficient basis on which to make a decision it may be referred for an investigation by the HCCC. The complaint would be reassessed upon receipt of the further information.
• Refer for investigation - The complaint may be referred for an investigation by the HCCC.
• Refer for direct resolution - The matter may be referred to the optometrist concerned for direct resolution with the complainant.

The matter may be referred to the optometrist concerned for direct resolution with the complainant.

Is the optometrist notified?

Irrespective of whether the complaint is made to the Board or the HCCC, the Health Care Complaints Act provides for the HCCC to give written notice of the complaint to the optometrist concerned. Notification may be delayed if notification would prejudice the investigation or place a client or the complainant at risk.

What happens after a complaint is investigated?

After the HCCC has completed its investigations of matters referred to it for that purpose, the results of the investigation are the subject of further consultation between the HCCC and the Board's Complaints Committee. Generally, the following are the range of options available to the Board and the HCCC following an investigation.

• Further action not warranted - There may be no evidence which would provide grounds for disciplinary action, which raises a significant issue of public health and safety, or which raises a significant question as to appropriate care or treatment.
• Adverse comment - The HCCC uses peer reviewers to provide advice concerning the conduct complained of.In cases where a peer reviewer makes adverse comments relating to the optometrist's conduct, insufficient to warrant a disciplinary inquiry, the HCCC may write to the optometrist concerned and advise him or her of the peer reviewer's adverse comments.
• Counselling - In cases where a peer reviewer makes adverse comments relating to the optometrist's conduct, insufficient to warrant a disciplinary inquiry, the Committee may direct the optometrist concerned to attend a meeting of the Board, or the Complaints Committee, for counselling.
• Disciplinary inquiry - The matter may be referred to a Professional Standards Committee, or the Board, for an inquiry under section 14 of the Optometrists Act 1989.

Any decision to discipline an optometrist is ultimately made by the Board or Optometrists Tribunal (in the case of serious complaints or appeals). Protective orders which may be imposed by the Board or Tribunal range from a caution to deregistration. Other options include requiring the optometrist to undertake a period of supervised practice or referral of the optometrist for medical or psychiatric treatment or counselling.