Put in place a feedback and complaints management system that encourages and supports workers to make complaints and give feedback.

Make sure your feedback and complaints management system outlines:

• clear and documented processes, roles and responsibilities on how feedback and complaints from workers are:
  • received
  • registered and acknowledged
  • recorded
  • investigated
  • responded to
  • managed
  • resolved
  • reported on
  • learnt from to improve aged care services.
• how you will encourage and support workers to provide feedback and make complaints. This includes providing access to advocates and external services to support raising and resolving complaints and feedback. This also includes offering different ways workers can share this information with you.
• how you keep feedback and complaints confidential, if this is what the worker wants. This needs to be in line with your information management system (Outcome 2.7). Make sure:
• workers do not face retribution because they give feedback or raise a complaint
  • you make efforts to reduce administrative burden
  • you resolve all feedback and complaints
  • you identify any patterns or trends.
• how you can escalate feedback and complaints in a timely way
• how you can access information about external complaints and feedback mechanisms
• processes to collect, store, use and disclose any information related to feedback and complaints from workers, with their informed consent. This needs to be in line with your information management system (Outcome 2.7).
• how you can provide positive feedback to encourage and strengthen good practices you observe
• what feedback or complaints need to be recorded. Make sure the system describes any situations where you don’t need to record feedback or complaints. For example, if the worker chooses not to have the feedback recorded.
• any feedback or complaints that you need to respond to. Include:
  • who you should involve in this process
  • timeframes
  • situations where you need an investigation, such as after an incident or near miss (Outcome 2.5).
• how you discuss and resolve complaints. You should do this in consultation with the worker who made the complaint. how you analyse and resolve complaints and feedback. Focus on identifying any trends or organisation-wide issues during performance monitoring. For example, aspects of care which aren’t delivered well may suggest that your organisation needs additional worker training (Outcome 2.3).

The feedback and complaints management system should also provide guidance and information on how to practise open disclosure (Outcome 2.3) when things go wrong.

Use your feedback and complaints management system to acknowledge, manage and respond to feedback and complaints from workers.

Have mechanisms to give feedback and make complaints that work well for workers. This means that these mechanisms are accessible, prompt and fair for workers.  These can include:

• formal complaint and feedback channels
• the complaints escalation process
• anonymous surveys or questionnaires
• feedback forms
• worker forums or feedback panels
• regular individual and/or team meetings
• union representation.

Consider the different ways workers would like to give feedback and make complaints. This can include sharing information verbally, in writing, digitally, openly, confidentially and anonymously. Make sure these options are available within your mechanisms for giving feedback and making complaints.
Also, consider the needs and preferences of workers. Facilitate access to supports such as advocates and services to support raising and resolving complaints and feedback during this process, if they want it.

If you find issues or ways you can improve through this process, you need to address them. If things go wrong, you need to:

• practise open disclosure (Outcome 2.3). This means being open about what has gone wrong. Share what went wrong with workers.
• put in place strategies to mitigate the risk of things going wrong again.

Collect and look for trends in your complaints and feedback data from workers to find organisation-wide issues and ways for the service to improve. Do this as part of your broader performance monitoring activities (Outcome 2.3). Report these outcomes to the governing body and workers.

Have a feedback register to monitor feedback and complaints from workers

Monitor how well you use the feedback and complaints management system to manage feedback and complaints from workers.

Regularly review your feedback and complaints management system to make sure it works well for workers. Look for ways to improve the system.

To check if you’re managing feedback and complaints well, you can review:

• complaints and feedback
• incident information (Outcome 2.5)
• feedback meeting minutes and records.

You will know things are going well if workers say that they are confident that:

• their complaints had been closed out appropriately in a timely manner
• they feel heard.

The guidance for Outcome 2.3 has more information on monitoring the quality system.