1:30min

By Kathy Gough
Practice Manager, Claims, Avant
Receiving a complaint from a patient can be very confronting. A complaint can be about anything, from rudeness of practice staff through to a serious allegation about your professional behaviour or a claim of negligence.
How you deal with a patient’s complaint may influence whether the matter goes any further, for example to AHPRA, another complaints handling body or to the patient’s lawyer. In our experience, it is better to deal with a complaint locally, rather than have it escalate to a regulator or lawyer.