Purpose and Scope

Carinya Society is committed to providing consistently high-quality services for its customers. Carinya recognizes that as an organization it may occasionally be unable to deliver the ideal service for all people, for a variety of reasons.

Carinya Society encourages participants and external stakeholders to raise issues about any aspect of Carinya’s service that they are not happy about so that they can be addressed through the organizations complaints process.    

This policy is designed to ensure that complaints are managed within Carinya with respect, taken seriously and treated with confidence.

Principles

  • Natural justice and the Disability Services Act (2006) will be the guiding principles for all matters related to complaints about service.
  • The point of view of all involved in a complaint will be respected
  • No one will be disadvantaged as a result of raising a complaint

Policy

  • All new staff and participants are to receive information about Carinya’s complaints process. It will also be available to everyone upon request.
  • Carinya will respond to all complaints in a fair, confidential, respectful and timely manner.
  • Carinya will endeavor to investigate and resolve all complaints within 21 working days
  • Where the complaint process is likely to take longer than 21 working days the person who made the complaint will be kept informed as to the progress of their complaint.
  • Carinya will encourage participants and members of their support network to raise a complaint should they feel unhappy about any aspect of the services they have received.  
  • All discussions, decisions, and actions are to be documented by a senior member of staff managing the complaint in the Complaints File on the G drive. The date, persons involved, details of the complaint, date of resolution and outcome must be included. Furthermore, all complaints and their resolutions will be recorded in the Office of the Disability Services Commissioners Annual Complaints Reporting (ACR) tool.
  • Senior staff will also make reference to the fact that a complaint has been made (including when it was made) on the client’s file notes.
  • Complaints will be used to make improvements to the services that Carinya provides and the way in which they are provided.
  • Should someone be unhappy with the outcome of a complaint, the complaint must be escalated internally within Carinya to a more senior member of staff.
  • An additional 14 working days will be set to resolve the complaint with the senior staff member.
  • Complaints that cannot be resolved within Carinya should then be directed towards the Office of the Disability Services Commissioner.  However, a person can access the services of the Office of the Disability Services Commissioner at any time during the complaints process.
  • All staff within Carinya will receive training on the organizations complaints process.
  • New employees of Carinya will receive training on the organizations complaints process as part of their program of induction.
  • Carinya will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the person making a complaint is not adversely affected as a result of making a complaint or because one has been made on their behalf.
  • All issues arising from complaints will be monitored by the Quality Advisor with trends and quality improvement actions reported to the Management Team.

Definitions:

Complaint: An expression of dissatisfaction with the provision of disability service, including how a previous complaint was handled, for which a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected. Complaints can be made by people receiving a service from Carinya or their family members/carers, contractors or members of the community.

Adversely affected: To be affected in a way that is not in the interests of a persons welfare, could cause them harm or be seen as unfavourable.

Key Result Areas

  • Carinya values its people
  • Complaints are used to improve the quality of services provided
  • Risks to clients, staff, and volunteers are reduced making Carinya a safer place to work

Related Documents

  • Complaints Form
  • Complaints Procedure
  • Corrective, Preventative and Improvement Actions Procedure
  • Disability Services Act 2006
  • Training & Development Policy
  • Training & Development Procedure

Responsibility

Implementation:          Management Team
Review:                       Quality Advisor
Approval:                    Management Team