Making a complaint

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Concerns​ or complaints about a health service, doctor, pharmacist or other health practitioner​

If you have spoken to your health professional and they don’t give you answers to what you are seeking, or if you are unable to speak to your health professional, you can either:

• find out who is responsible for handling complaints at the health service (such as a hospital, clinic, or medical centre) and ​how to make a complaint, or
• file a complaint with the relevant organisation listed below.

There are a number of ways you can make a complaint, and these are listed below.

For complaints related to:

• ​H​ealth services organisations (such as hospitals or clinics) or health practitioners, contact the NSW  Health Care Complaints Commission​​​. You can file a complaint online or by calling the Enquiry Line, Monday to Friday, 9am–​ 5pm on 1800 043 159.​
• Registered health practitioners​, contact the Health Professionals Council Authority (HPCA)​​​
  
• Pharmacists, contact the NSW Pharmacy Council​​​.​
  
• Doctors, contact the NSW Medical Council​​.
  
• Registered health practitioners in Queensland, contact the Office of the Health Ombudsman (OHO)​​​​.
  
• Registered health practitioners in states other than NSW and QLD, contact Ahpra​​​
  
• Customer service or consumer complaints, including refund requests or billing enquiries, contact NSW Fair Trading​​.
  
• Suspected illegal activities such as unlawful supply, prescribing, packaging, or labelling of medicines, contact the NSW Ministry of Health Pharmaceutical Services via email at MOH-PharmaceuticalServices@health.nsw.gov.au.​
  

Refusal to prescribe or dispense a medicine

It is the professional decision of a doctor as to what they will or won’t prescribe for a patient. It’s also the professional decision of a pharmacist to dispense or not a medicine.

There are reasons for a doctor to refuse to issue a prescription, or a pharmacist to refuse to dispense the medicine. These include:

• the doctor or pharmacist has assessed the patient’s situation and determined that the medicine is not an appropriate treatment 
  
• the medicine can only be prescribed​​ by a specialist or under a specialist’s advice and support
• issuing a prescription for the medicine, or quantity of medicine, does not comply with recognised therapeutic standards of what is appropriate for the given circumstances.
• the doctor or pharmacist may have conditions imposed on their professional registration that prevent them from prescribing or dispensing certain medicines

​If your complaint is about a doctor refusing to prescribe a medicine, it is important to understand that this decision is based on their professional and clinical judgement.​

If your complaint is about a pharmacist not dispensing a medicine to you, please speak to your doctor for further advice.​

Who to contact for medicines advice

• If you have immediate concerns about a person's health and safety, call triple zero (000) or visit a hospital emergency department.
• For 24-hour health advice you can call the Health Direct hotline at 1800 022 222. You can also visit the website at Health Direct​​ to check your symptoms, find a health service, or find health information.
• For information on all types of medicines, you can call the Medicines Line​​​ at 1300 MEDICINE (1300 633 424). Calls are answered by registered pharmacists, and the ser​vice is available Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm AEST (excluding NSW public holidays).
• The Poisons Information Centre​ provides the latest poisons information to the public. Advice is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at 131126 from anywhere in Australia. ​​