Health Care Complaints Commission - Haymarket, New South Wales

Kira

I have had two occassions to contact the HCCC, over the past two years, with very legitimate and concerning situations. Both were concerning the critical health of a young woman who has been treated atrociously by a cardiologist who refused to see her anymore stating that she contacted him on the wrong email (an email he had provided and invited her to use and that he had previously responded on - yes we have proof) and a social worker providing DBT to vulnerable people and exploiting them by getting them to sign onerous contracts and tracking them down mercilessly to see them fulfill it to the detriment of their mental health - go figure! On both occassions within seconds of outlining the situation and the precarious position this has left the patient in, the first comment is always in favour of the practitioner and their rights. Never do they mentioned your (the patients) rights and if they do it is to point out your lack of rights. Either this organisations primary purpose is to avert any legal repercussions to practitioners or the legal system is so lopsided in favour of practitioners that it is actually unjust and is putting lives at risk. If so it needs revision. Either way the HCCC is a useless organisation and serves no purpose as indicated by the consistent poor reviews.

Rainer Munir

I am not surprised with the amount of 1 star reviews that the HCCC is receiving. I know this is very late to share information with my experience with them but I might as well add my review right now to add some credibility to this corrupted government agency. In 2022, I filed a complaint about a psychiatrist at Wollongong Psychological Medicine after the psychiatrist breached my privacy twice and violated many laws in the consultations. After 2 months with all the investigations they went through, I wasn't very happy with the outcome. The psychiatrist lied about everything that he did to me and started putting the blame on me. The first HCCC officer was that stupid to believe in a silly lie and overall she took the psychiatrists side. The first HCCC officer allowed me to make a second complaint but this time it was under another HCCC officer and a Resolution and Customer Engagement Director. After 3 months of hearing an outcome, they did overturn the decision however I was not satisfied with the punishment that the psychiatrist was receiving. I wouldn't call this a punishment as there is not much discipline being enforced but they provided corrective comments to the psychiatrist. Corrective comments will not change his behavior and discipline and I am seeing many reviews from other patients about his poor and unethical behavior. In conclusion to this review, the HCCC is always one-sided to the doctor and will never consider the patients concern. Instead of submitting a complaint with them, hire a lawyer instead to solve your concerns.

you wang

I am extremely disappointed at how appallingly HCCC handled my complaint in such biased and partial way.
Not only did HCCC completely ignore the supporting evidence I submitted, including the 2 witness statements, but more importantly, deliberately ignored the two other medical specialist medical notes which not only gave vastly different account, but also directly opposed to the medical notes from the doctor, whom I complained about.
It showed how far HCCC could go to defend the doctor by firmly concluding the opposite of the truth, in solely relying on his one-sided medical notes, made assessments which were full of twist of facts, contradiction, friction, errors, irrelevant factors, and lack of logic reasoning.
My chief complaint about the doctor was his total ignorance of my father suffering from severe side effects under his treatment, during his failure trial of radically cutting off my father medications in order to replace the new medications. His abruptly turned away my father coldly and impatiently after detecting my father’s drastic deterioration signs (lost his walking ability) and suffering from unbearable pain before he passed away painfully.
My only purpose was to raise the awareness that such treatment could cause the devastating outcome, so it can be prevented from happening again to other patients.
However HCCC’s unjustly refusal in examining all the supporting evidence, raised the basic fundamental questions: Whenever the incident of side effects occurred from medicine change is reported, should it be dismissed in disbelief? Regardless of how effective treatment plan may sound, should any probability of severe side effects be ruled out, thus resolutely denied it in the first place?
Ultimately it showed HCCC total failure in applying its value and absolutely no care at all in protecting patients from avoidable harm, tremendous suffering, and painful death.

Joe

The Health Minister or Attorney General must SHUT THEM DOWN!!! The HCCC violate their own Health Care Complaints Act 1993 [NSW] & their own Code Of Conduct.

They do not follow their functions nor follow functions within Australia laws, including basic human rights.

A person has legal right to proper health care!!!

Their biggest failure is violating & abusing standard Court principles, such as;

“The High Court has stated that ‘the expression “procedural fairness” … conveys the notion of a flexible obligation to adopt fair procedures which are appropriate and adapted to the circumstances of the case’ (per Mason J in Kioa v West).”

“Natural justice requires the right to be heard, the right to be treated without bias, and a decision being based on relevant evidence.”

They have ruined patients lives with permanent health complications. They operate in an illegal manner protecting only Government Interests!!!

MPs Shut Them Down!

George Tadros

I am extremely dissatisfied with my experience with the HCCC (Health Care Complaints Commission). It's not surprising that the organisation’s Google review rating is 1.3, and I completely agree with the sentiment that it lacks independence. My disappointment stems from a case involving a rogue obstetrician. Despite clear evidence of misconduct, neither the hospital nor the HCCC could discipline the obstetrician because they claim he's responsible for his own clinical management. This raises a critical question - who then holds the obstetrician to account? The lack of accountability and the inability of the HCCC to take effective action highlight serious flaws in the system. Overall, my experience with the HCCC has been frustrating and ineffective, and I wouldn't recommend relying on them for resolving healthcare complaints.

Lusti

This department is corrupt or incompetent in my opinion. They don't care about the patient at all. Their investigations are laughable. I didn't even get a call and asked any questions. Facts don't count in their investigation it seems. The Dr lied and I could prove it but this department doesn't care for the truth so the poor excuse of a doctor got away with misconduct and ripping off the Australian tax payer for a service that did not happen.
This departments priority is to get you off their books to meet their KPI's Im guessing.

Aimy

Hasn't changed or made things better for me. I'm a patient of psychiatry and being taken seriously is not common in my care. I had complained to the hccc. The first time they were really effective but this time around they didn't seem to care or be a part of the meeting with the healthcare provider. I'm not sure if I will go down this Avenue again. Seems to make things worse for me.

susan humphreys

Left me waiting on the phone for thirty minutes then the line went dead.
Reported an incidence with an optometrist,said an internal medical officer's advice was sought.by the commission.
Do I have the right to know the name of that internal medical officer's name.
How qualified is he.
How can he be so sure when he wasn't there.
What was the make and model of the device he was so sure about.
Did the commission check the names dates and places where I was supposed to have been referred to by the optometrist.
How can you give such a blanket decision without checking all the evidence.
Should the hccc tell me in their reply to my complaint,the make and model of the device they tested was it the same one that damaged my eye.
I have found out that the hccc have relied on advice from the opticians association re my complaint,and not the government body set up for such things,does this sound right to you.?
Found out that the device I reported wasn't even looked at,just went on the premise that they hadn't heard of an injury to the eye from a device before,never mind that I walked into an optician's with nothing wrong with my eye,and came out with the symptoms of a detached retina.,they ignored that.