The Company and the Surgeon are committed to providing patients with high quality procedures and results. The Surgeon and the Company’s objective is to ensure that patients are aware of the procedure’s possible range of outcomes and resolve any complaints at the first available opportunity.

Purpose

This Policy seeks to set out the procedure and methods by which the Company and the Surgeon resolve complaints which they may receive from time to time. The Company and the Surgeon take all complaints seriously and endeavor to resolve all complaints as efficiently as possible through the implementation of this Policy. 

Method and Transmission of Complaint

A complaint may be made to the complaint officer whose details are below:

Body Recon Practice Manager
Phone Number: 03 5221 3739; E-mail Address: appointments@bodyrecon.com

Address: Practice Manager, Body Recon, Suite 3, Level 5, 80 Myers Street, Geelong, VIC 3220

Any complaint should be marked accordingly to ensure the confidentiality of the complaint. If a complaint is forwarded to another member of the Company’s team, it will be immediately forwarded to the complaints officer.

The patient confirms that, prior to making any public comment verbally, electronically, or in writing, in relation to any dissatisfaction with the results of the procedure, to raise the concerns to the complaints officer.

The patient agrees to give the Company and the Surgeon a reasonable time to resolve any complaint which falls within the scope of this policy. If the patient believes the matter is not being resolved within a reasonable time, then the patient should notify the Company and the Surgeon of these concerns prior to taking any further action.

Complaints may also be made in person or over the phone if these methods are more convenient. Complaints received via these methods will be communicated to the complaints officer as soon as possible after receipt.

Complaint Resolution

The complaint officer will be responsible for the consideration, investigation and resolution of the complaint, unless the complaints officer considers it appropriate to delegate and/or escalate the complaint, having regard to the nature of the complaint and against whom the complaint is made.

The investigating officer will contact the complainant to confirm receipt of the complaint and to provide a timetable for its investigation and finalisation (when possible to do so).

The Company and Surgeon endeavor to resolve all complaints within a reasonable time. This time may vary due to reasons such as the length of complaint, scope of complaint, and the nature of the complaint.

The investigating officer will then investigate the complaint, having regards to the standards of reasonableness, procedural fairness and applicable laws. The investigation process may involve various methods including reviewing records, conducting interviews, making independent enquiries and seeking further information if available.

At the resolution of the investigation, the investigator will prepare a response to the complainant providing findings or conclusions derived from the investigation and any future steps to be taken in response to the complaint.

External Complaints

The patient understands that this policy in no way diminishes the patient’s right to lodge complaints with regulatory or statutory authorities.

In the event that the complaint reveals subject matter or information which the complaints officer, in their reasonable opinion, believes should be provided to a regulatory or statutory authority, the complaints officer will consult with the patient, when reasonable, but will remain bound by any statutory obligations to report conduct which falls within the jurisdiction of regulatory or statutory authorities. There may be certain circumstances in which it will not be reasonable or viable to notify or consult with the patient before a report is made.

Should the patient be dissatisfied with the response from the investigating officer, they may be able to lodge a complaint to external authorities such as the Health Care Complaints Commission and/or Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

Confidentiality

All complaints will be treated with confidentiality and in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. Personal information will only be used for the purpose of investigating and resolving the complaint.