My rights: Confidentiality and privacy
Feedback and complaints
Sometimes, you may connect with service providers who are very supportive and understanding. It’s also possible that you may not feel heard or respected by some staff. This can be very upsetting. Many services have ways that you can share feedback about your experience, whether it’s positive or negative.
Tips on providing feedback or complaints
- Speak directly to the doctor/service provider. Most professionals are willing to address your concerns directly or would love to hear positive feedback that you may have.
- Speak to the manager to program lead. If you are not comfortable speaking to the person directly, speak to someone else in charge. You can also ask to remain anonymous.
- See if there are programs already in place for you to provide feedback. Some agencies will have feedback surveys or programs that you can use to provide feedback.
- Work with someone you trust. If you feel like you need some support, ask a friend or family member to come with you to meetings or to help you share your feedback.
- Be clear. What happened? When did it happen? How has it affected you?
- Decide what you would like to happen next. If you had a negative experience, how would you like things handled? Perhaps you want an apology, a meeting to discuss the problem or action to be taken to stop the situation from happening again.
- Keep track of all the information. Write down the names and positions of the people involved, including those handling your complaint. Make sure you keep copies of any emails or letters you get; you may need to refer to them in the future.
Self-reflection activity
This is a self-reflection activity. As you do this activity, you can write down your thoughts on a piece of paper. If you have an account, you can click on the button below to write down your thoughts on a ‘Notes’ page that you can print or save.
Do you have any questions for your service provider regarding confidentiality, consent and privacy? You can also use this space to think about who you would like to involve or not involve in your care.
Key messages:
- Learn about your rights when you begin treatment. You can do this by speaking directly to the service provider and asking them for information on confidentiality and privacy.
- Consent is a term used to talk about how decisions around your medical care are made. Consent means having a choice and the ability to say “yes” or “no” to different treatments and service options.
- What you tell a service provider usually stays between you and the service provider—this is called confidentiality.
