Department of Health feedback and complaints

There are several ways you can provide feedback to us, including by mail, email, online or over the phone.

This feedback might relate to:

• a complaint about the services that we fund and/or provide
• the action of our employees
• the action of our authorised officers.

Making and resolving a complaint

If you have a complaint, take the following steps to get your complaint resolved:

Step 1. Discuss your complaint with a staff member from the place where you received the service.

Step 2. If your complaint cannot be resolved at Step 1, or you are dissatisfied with the outcome, you can choose one of the following ways to lodge a formal complaint with our department:

• Submit your complaint online via our online form.
• Email our Feedback and complaints team via health.feedback@health.vic.gov.au
• Mail: Health Feedback, GPO Box 4057, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000.
• Phone: 1300 229 075. For more information, see our Contact us page.

Acknowledgement and consent

You acknowledge that the information you provide in feedback (including compliments) or a complaint that you submit by email, phone or mail, may involve the sharing of your personal or health information with other relevant areas within our department.

This is undertaken so that:

• your feedback and complaint can be further discussed
• information or documents can be obtained from them relating to your feedback or complaint.

A third party may need to be involved in the circumstances raised in your feedback or complaint. If so, we may also need to share your personal or health information with them for the above purposes.

By submitting your feedback or complaint you consent to the disclosure of the feedback or complaint in the manner and for the purpose/s described here, unless you advise otherwise in your submission.

If you do not provide us with information regarding your feedback or complaint or consent to disclose your personal or health information to relevant areas within our department or involved third parties, this may limit our ability to assist you.

We may also seek further information from you in relation to your feedback or complaint.

For information on how we collect, use and store personal or health information, you should refer to the privacy policy page.

Hospital or health service complaints

If you have feedback or a complaint relating to a Victorian public health service, you should contact the patient representative or consumer liaison officer at the relevant hospital.

All Victorian health services have patient representatives available to answer queries or address concerns. They can be contacted by phoning general hospital enquiries contact numbers.

To find hospital contact information, see our list of Public hospital websites in Victoria.

Private hospitals, day procedure centres and bush nursing hospitals

If you have feedback or a complaint about privates hospitals, day procedures or bush nursing hospitals please refer to the Complaints about private health facilities page.

Cemeteries and crematoria

If you have feedback or a complaint about a cemetery trust, please contact the cemetery trust directly to discuss the matter. Cemetery trust contact details can be accessed via the Cemetery search page.

For information about cemeteries and crematoria complaints that can be referred to our department see the Cemeteries and crematoria complaints page.

Unresolved health and mental health complaints

The Victorian Government has a number of avenues for complaint resolution if you are dissatisfied with your service provider’s or our response.

Health Complaints Commissioner (HCC)

The HCC is an independent statutory authority established to receive and resolve complaints about any health service provider in Victoria.

For more information go to the Health Complaints Commissioner website.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission (MHWC)

If you have a complaint about a public mental health service in Victoria the MHWC can assist you. For more information go to the Mental Health Wellbeing Commission website.

Victorian Ombudsman (VO)

The VO deals with complaints concerning actions or decisions made by a Victorian public organisation. For more information go to the Victorian Ombudsman website.

Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC)

The OVIC is the primary regulator and source of independent advice about how the public sector collects, uses and discloses information. Their information is aimed at the community and Victorian government. For more information visit the OVIC website.

Complaints about procurement

If you have feedback or a complaint about our departmental procurement process (e.g. tender or request for quote process conducted by the department) please refer to the Procurement policies page.