Elective Wait List Advocate Committee
Complaints form
Please print and complete the complaints form, attaching any additional information or documents you think are relevant. You must also sign the authorisation in the form for the committee to access information on you including medical records kept at public hospitals.
Function of the committee
The committee was appointed by the Minister for Health. It reviews Elective Surgery Waiting Lists at public hospitals and provides advice to the Minister and the Director General for Health. The committee may also review the cases of individuals on a public hospital waiting list or an individual yet to be placed on a waiting list.
What type of complaints can the committee review?
The complaint must be directly related to a patient being placed on an elective surgery waitlist or having access to planned elective surgery within a clinically appropriate period of time.
The committee will not accept complaints from a person unless that person has first sought to resolve the complaint with the relevant public hospital in the first instance.
Contact details of local Patient Liaison/Customer Complaint Officers (PDF) at major hospitals.
What type of complaints will the committee not review?
The committee will not accept complaints regarding adverse outcomes from elective procedures at public hospitals or complaints about the conduct of public hospital staff.
These types of complaints can be made to the relevant public hospital directly or to the Office of Health Review.
Who may make a complaint to the committee?
A person, or someone else with authorisation to act on behalf of that person, who:
- is wait listed for an elective surgery procedure at a public hospital
- has a booking for an elective procedure at a public hospital
- has an appointment to see a public hospital outpatient clinic prior to being waitlisted for an elective surgery procedure
- is seeking an appointment to attend an outpatient clinic at a public hospital with the intention of being wait listed for an elective procedure
- has been removed from a wait list at a public hospital
What will the committee do with my complaint?
The committee must first decide whether the complaint falls within the committee’s terms of reference. If the complaint does not fall within the committee’s terms of reference then you will be advised immediately.
If the complaint falls within the committee’s terms of reference then the committee will liaise with you to determine what actions you have taken to date. All complainants should first try to resolve the complaint with the relevant public hospital. If this has not occurred then the committee will help you access this complaint process in the first instance.
If your complaint has not been satisfactorily resolved by the public hospital concerned then the committee may investigate your complaint. To do this the committee must have your written authorisation to access information about you kept at the public hospital/s including your medical record. The public hospital concerned will not release any information about you to the committee without your written authorisation.
In investigating your complaint, the committee will contact the public hospital concerned and ask for a report on the complaint and access your medical record. The committee will then review the circumstances of your case and will make recommendations to the Chief Executive of the hospital.
These recommendations may involve:
- changing your wait list priority category so that the intended procedure is scheduled and booked earlier
- changing the public hospital for treatment so that you may have the intended procedure scheduled and booked earlier
- re-instating you on a hospital wait list after an earlier removal
- in certain circumstances facilitation of an earlier appointment at a public hospital outpatient clinic
- no further action taken
What will happen with the committee’s recommendations?
Any recommendations made by the committee will be provided to the complainant and to the Chief Executive of the public hospital concerned.
The committee can only make recommendations about a patient’s care in relation to the elective wait list. As an advocate the committee’s recommendations are not binding on the public hospital. The committee in its role as an advocate cannot over-rule a clinician’s decision making but can advocate for a review of a clinical decision in relation to the scheduling of elective surgery.
How do I contact the committee?
Email: ElectiveAdvocate@health.wa.gov.au
Telephone: (08) 9222 6451
Fax: (08) 9222 2032
Mailing Address:
“Private and Confidential”
Executive Officer
Elective Wait List Advocate Committee
Department of Health
PO Box 8172
Perth Business Centre
PERTH WA 6849
File Formats
Some documents for download on this website are in a Portable Document Format (PDF). To read these files you might need to download Adobe® Acrobat Reader.