General contact information
| Phone | (02) 5943 2003 |
| MLHD-Feedback@health.nsw.gov.au | |
| Address | Level 1, 193-195 Morgan Street, Wagga Wagga NSW 2650 |
| Postal address | Locked Bag 10, Wagga Wagga NSW 2650 |
Hospital | Phone |
Griffith Base Hospital | |
Wagga Wagga Base Hospital |
Directorate | Phone | |
Community Health | ||
Finance and Revenue | ||
Careers and Workforce | ||
Clinical | ||
Executive Services | ||
Medical Services | ||
Nursing and Midwifery Office | ||
Operations | ||
Public Health |
Phone |
Your feedback matters
At Murrumbidgee Local Health District, we aim to provide the best health care possible to our communities. Hearing feedback and suggestions from the people we provide care to is an important part of this.
If you want to tell us about something we did well or not so well for you or your loved one, we're keen to know so we can understand and work with you to improve our services.
You have the right to make a complaint if you feel something was not right.
We will listen and respond to you. Many complaints can be talked through and fixed quickly. But if not, you will be supported. We will investigate and keep you informed on how it’s going.
There are a range of ways you can contact us to provide your feedback and you can contact us via the methods listed below.
Any person can make a complaint, including anyone:
- directly affected by the problem
- who has observed a problem
- acting for the person affected. This could be a family member, consumer advocate, medical practitioner or healthcare staff
- concerned about health services provided.
Complaints can be made anonymously or face-to-face with a staff member or manager. Complaints can be about any function or service provided by a healthcare organisation. This includes, services provided, the behaviour of health service staff or any general healthcare issues.
| In person | Raise your concern with any staff member, who might resolve your concerns on the spot. If they cannot help, they will refer it to someone who can. |
| If you'd like to provide feedback about our staff, service or website, you can email MLHD-Feedback@health.nsw.gov.au
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| Phone | You can call the Murrumbidgee LHD feedback line on 1800 011 824 Note: This is a message bank service. Leave your name and contact number and we will respond as soon as possible. |
| Write | Write to the Chief Executive at: Chief Executive |
Use the feedback tool
| You can use the thumbs up or thumbs down button at the bottom of every web page. |
Complaints will be treated seriously, fairly and confidentially.
We will investigate all complaints fully and the person who raised the complaint will be informed of the outcomes of the investigation.
Complaints will be acknowledged promptly within 5 days, and outcomes are usually provided within 35 days.
If you are not satisfied with the outcomes provided to you, you can have your complaint reviewed by a higher level of the health service or by an independent organisation, such as the Health Care Complaints Commission. You can contact them on 1800 043 159.
You can also raise concerns:
- by filling out the feedback form on NSW Health
directly with the NSW Minister for Health by calling (02) 9391 9000 or writing to:
The Hon. Ryan Park MP
GPO Box 5341
Sydney NSW 2001contacting your local Member of Parliament
to the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), an independent organisation that can investigate complaints about public or private health services or individual health practitioners.
- the HCCC can review a complaint if a person is not happy with how their complaint has been managed by the health service or
- if they do not agree with the outcome of the health service's investigation.
Accessing your health information
You're entitled to request access to all personal information including your health record held by Murrumbidgee LHD. Find out how we collect, store and protect your personal information and learn how to request access to your health information.
Accessing Murrumbidgee LHD information (GIPA Act)
Access to information held by all government agencies, including Murrumbidgee LHD, is governed by the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act). The GIPA Act requires us to release information unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure. Visit the Information and Privacy Commission NSW (IPC) website or the NSW Health website for more information.
There are four ways information held by Murrumbidgee NSW LHD will be made available:
Mandatory release – much of the information we hold is publicly available online including our NSW Health policies, government contracts and our GIPA disclosure log (PDF 247.73KB). Information tables in Parliament will be published on our website.
Proactive release – you can ask us what other information we will make public.
Informal request – you can request certain information without the need for a formal application by contacting our Right to Information Officer on (02) 5943 2004.
Formal application – in limited circumstances, access to information will require a GIPA application.
If you would like to make an application for Murrumbidgee LHD information (either personal on non-personal) under GIPA you must submit a valid application.
Written applications should be submitted, in the first instance, marked attention to:
Right to Information Officer
Murrumbidgee Local Health District
Locked Mail Bag 10
Wagga Wagga NSW 2650
You can also email your application form to: MLHD-GIPA@health.nsw.gov.au
A valid formal application for access to government information must:
- be completed in writing, stating that it is made under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW)
- have an Australian postal address for return correspondence
- provide enough details to help the agency identify the information you want and
- enclose the application fee of $30, payable by cheque or money order (cheques made payable to Murrumbidgee LHD) or by following the instructions below for electronic payment.
For personal information requests, a certified copy of your identification should be included.
Note that there may be further processing charges for your GIPA application.
For help with your application email us: MLHD-GIPA@health.nsw.gov.au or call (02) 5943 2004.
Electronic Payment
To make an electronic payment go to our payments page. Payments type is 'Equipment/sales'.
If you have been provided with a reference number enter those details as an invoice or customer number. If you have not received a reference number enter 'GIPA application' upon payment.
Note: Processing of payments may take upwards of 48 hours. If you would like a timely response, email your receipt of payment to MLHD-GIPA@health.nsw.gov.au
Application fee
An application fee of $30 is required for all formal access applications. A cheque or money order (made payable to Murrumbidgee LHD) or receipt for electronic payment for the prescribed fee must accompany the application. An application received without the prescribed fee is not a valid application under the GIPA Act and no further action will be taken to process the application.
Further processing charges
Murrumbidgee LHD may impose a processing charge for dealing with an access application at a rate of $30 per hour of processing time for the application. The $30 application fee counts as a payment towards any processing charge payable by the applicant. Applicants seeking their own personal information receive up to 20 hours processing without additional charge.
The processing time for an application is the total amount of time that is necessary to be spent by any officer of MLHD in:
- dealing efficiently with the application (including consideration of the application, searching for records, consultation, decision-making and any other function exercised in connection with deciding the application) or
- providing access in response to the application (based on the lowest reasonable estimate of the time that will need to be spent in providing that access). Access to government information granted in response to an access application may be made conditional on payment of any processing charge imposed for dealing with the application.
We may ask for an advance deposit from you (maximum 50% of the total cost) if the cost estimates for work to be undertaken is for a sum exceeding the application fee (ie is greater than $30). If you do not pay this deposit, we may not proceed with the request.
If there will be considerable cost incurred with your formal access application under the GIPA Act, you will be advised of the estimated costs before the work starts. Consultation with third parties may also be required depending on the nature of the information requested.
Discount of Processing Charges
In some circumstances, discounts may be provided for your application. Visit the NSW Information and Privacy Commission website for more information.
Processing your application
We will advise you within 5 working days of receiving your application if it's valid under the GIPA Act. If it isn't valid, we'll tell you why and help you to make it valid.
We will then process your application by searching for the information or let you know if it is more appropriate for your application to be dealt with by another agency.
In processing your application, we may have to consult other people, businesses or government agencies on the release of information that relates to them. A decision is then made:
- to provide access
- that the information is not held
- that the information is already available to you
- to refuse to provide access because there is an overriding public interest against disclosure
- to refuse to deal with your application
- to refuse to confirm or deny that the information is held, because there is an overriding public interest against disclosure confirming or denying that fact.
We'll provide you with reasons for making any of the above decisions.
If we decide to defer access, we'll give you reasons for deferral and when you will be given access.
How long the review process will take
We aim to process your request as soon as possible and within 20 working days of receiving your application. If we need to consult a third party or we need to retrieve archived records, the 20 day period will be extended by 10-15 days.
We may not always be able to meet these timeframes, for example, if there is a large amount of information or many people to consult. We'll let you know if this is the case and negotiate a longer timeframe with you.
Information we will not make available
We try to make information available wherever possible. However, you may not be able to obtain information if there is an overriding public interest against disclosure. This can apply to information such as:
- Cabinet information
- confidential information
- information that would breach another person's privacy
- information that would prejudice someone's business, commercial, professional or financial interests
- information that would affect law enforcement and security
- information relating to sensitive threatened species and Aboriginal cultural heritage issues.
We can only refuse access to information if the public interests against disclosure outweigh the general public interests in favour of disclosure. There is no limit to the matters we can take into account in favour of releasing information. We will let you know the reasons if we decide not to release information.
Why your application may be refused
We can also refuse an application if:
- your request would take an unreasonable and substantial amount of time and resources to process - we will help you refine your application so that we can process it
- you do not pay a deposit that we may ask for
- the information you ask for is already publicly available
- we have already decided a previous application from you for the information (or information that is substantially the same) and there are no reasonable grounds for believing that we would make a different decision
- the information is or has been the subject of a subpoena or other court order for the production of documents and is available to you because we have complied with that subpoena or court order
- we do not hold the information
If GIPA Act requirements are not followed
There are a range of penalties that can be applied under the GIPA Act for the following conduct:
- an officer knowingly deciding a formal access application contrary to the requirements of the GIPA Act
- directing an officer to make a decision he or she knows is not permitted or required by the GIPA Act
- improperly influencing a decision on an access application
- knowingly misleading or deceiving an officer for the purpose of obtaining access to government information
- concealing, destroying or altering information for the purpose of preventing the release of information.
You have a right to request a review of a decision regarding the release of information if you disagree with any of the specified agency decisions as set out under the GIPA Act, s80.
For further information, refer to the Information and Privacy Commissioner Fact Sheet on your Review Rights under the GIPA Act or call 1800 472 679.
There are three options to have a decision reviewed:
Internal review
You can apply to Murrumbidgee LHD for an internal review. The review is undertaken by someone more senior to the original decision maker. There is a $40 fee (except if there is a “deemed refusal” because we didn't process your application in time). You have 20 working days from the time you received the notice of decision to ask for an internal review. A request for an internal review should be made by contacting us in writing.
The internal review will be decided within 15 working days of receiving the application for an internal review. This may be extended by up to 10 working days if we need to consult another person whom we did not previously consult, or by agreement with you.
To request an internal review, you can write to us:
Right to Information Officer
Murrumbidgee Local Health District
Locked Bag 10
Wagga Wagga NSW 2650
Or email: MLHD-GIPA@health.nsw.gov.au
External review by the Information Commissioner
If you're not satisfied with the internal review or do not want one to be conducted by Murrumbidgee LHD, you can ask for a review by the Information Commissioner. You have 8 weeks from being notified of the decision to ask for this review.
There is no cost or time limit involved in seeking a review by the Information Commissioner..
The Information Commissioner can make recommendations to us about the decision, including that we reconsider the decision and make a new one (even if an internal review decision has been made).
Contact:
Information and Privacy Commissioner
Level 11, 1 Castlereagh Street,
Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 1800 472 679
Email: ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au
Website: www.ipc.nsw.gov.au
External review at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT)
If you're not satisfied with the decision of the Information Commissioner or the Murrumbidgee LHD internal reviewer or you do not want to take these options you can apply to the NCAT. If you have already had a review by the Information Commissioner, you have 4 weeks from notification of the decision to make this application. If you have not had a review by the Information Commissioner you have 8 weeks from notification of the decision to make this application.
If you have already had a review by the Information Commissioner, you will have 20 working days from when the Information Commissioner advises of the completion of the review to apply to the Tribunal.
Otherwise, you will have 40 working days from the date of the decision to apply to the Tribunal. Contact the Tribunal for advice about the process and any fees payable.
We have to justify our decision to the Tribunal. However, a third party (that is, someone who has not applied for the information but is affected by our decision to release information) who seeks a review will have the burden of showing that there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of information.
Contact:
NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal
Level 12, 175 Castlereagh Street, GPO Box 4005
Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 1300 006228
You can download our GIPA annual reports from the past 3 years. Contact us to access earlier reports.
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