RECEIVING AND ASSESSING COMPLAINTS

Reports may be made by consumers, health professionals, employers, other regulatory bodies, other agencies such as the Coroner, or through the media.

When a complaint is received it is assessed to establish whether the Nurses Board can investigate it. The Nurses Board can only investigate complaints about individual nurses. If the complaint is regarding the organisation the nurse may work for, the complainant would be referred to another agency. The Nurses Board does not investigate matters of a purely industrial nature.

For an investigation to be initiated by the Registrar, the matter must involve the professional conduct, competence or capacity of a registered nurse, nurse practitioner, midwife, mental health nurse or enrolled nurse and be in relation to nursing.

If the Nurses Board determines an investigation is warranted, the person who has made the complaint will be notified and the nurse concerned will be informed that an investigation has commenced.

A copy of the report is de-identified and provided to the person being investigated.