Public complaints

Contents
Annual Report 2022 - 2023

On this page:

Number of public complaints reported
Additional Metrics
Service Improvements
Compliance Statement

Number of public complaints reported

In May 2022, the department transitioned to Gov SAfety, the State Government’s new work health and safety incident reporting system. Staff use Gov SAfety to report all feedback, with complaints recorded based on the categories in the tables below.

Facilities

Centre-Based Facilities

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Access	1
Quality	6

Unit-Based Facilities

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Room-Based Activities	3
Tuck Shop	0
Unit Supplies	3

Interpersonal Relationships

Advocacy

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Advocacy	6

Domestic Visitors

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Access to Phone Calls	0
Access to Visitors	6

Kurlana Tapa Staff

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Availability	23

Other Resident

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Other Resident	9

Professional Visitors

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Access to Phone Calls	0
Access to Visitors	0
Privacy	0

Procedure / Process

Behaviour Support Framework

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Consequences	1
Inequity	0
Phases	0
Protective Actions	0
Rewards and Incentives	3
Routines (lockdown)	7
Routines (other)	4

Charter of Rights

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Charter of Rights	6

Communication

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Quality	10
Timeliness / Responsiveness	8

Professional Behaviour

Staff

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Attitude	57
Competency	2
Conduct	58
Knowledge	0

Service Delivery

Education

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Access to Education	0
Quality of Education	0
Variety and Relevance of Courses Provided	1

Food

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Dietary Requirements (Medical and/or Cultural)	0
Quality	14
Quantity	14
Specific Meals	13
Variety	7

Health and Wellbeing

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Access to Medical Services	6
Access to Mental Health Services	1
Access to Physical Health Services	1
Disability-Related Concerns	14
Gender-Related Concerns	0

Programs / Activities

Sub-Categories	Number of Complaints 2022 – 2023
Access to Programs and Activities	6
Appropriate Cultural Programs	0
Variety and Relevance of Programs Provided	1

(Source: Gov SAfety)

Total Number of Complaints

Total Number of Complaints in the 2022 – 2023 financial year = 291

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Additional Metrics

Additional Metrics	Total
Number of positive feedback comments¹	148
Number of negative feedback comments²	291
Total number of feedback comments	439
% complaints resolved within policy timeframes	63%

¹ Total number of recorded compliments and suggestions

² Total number of recorded complaints

Data for previous years is available at: Data.SA - Annual Reporting - DHS Annual Report Data

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Service Improvements

The following summarises actions by the department to improve its management of complaints, and service improvements resulting from complaints or client feedback:

In February 2022, the Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner (HCSCC) published Public Summary: Investigation into the provision of health services by Transition to Home (T2H). The investigation was undertaken following a complaint to the HCSCC from the SA Ambulance Service about T2H. DHS Disability Services has completed, or is in the progress of completing, all recommendations provided by the HCSCC. It will also continue to work with the HCSCC to further ensure the quality of care and support provided to T2H residents.
Feedback from children and young people in custody at Kurlana Tapa indicated that they had difficulty understanding various youth justice documentation due to its format and style. In response, the Communities and Justice directorate implemented an expanded range of easy English, child-friendly documents to improve accessibility for children and young people. The documents, developed by speech pathologists, aim to increase children and young people’s understanding of their rights, processes, and decisions that impact them.
Concessions and Support Services has compiled recent feedback and complaints and is addressing these as part of the concessions review. A complaint regarding a customer not receiving backdated Cost of Living Concession payments resulted in an internal report on backdating practices, which is now being considered in light of the concessions review. A number of complaints were also received regarding the wait time on the Concessions Hotline as a result of the doubling of the Cost of Living Concession payment. Concessions and Support Services have additional staffing resources available for the busy Energy Bill Relief Fund (EBRF) period anticipated in 2023–24.
DHS Disability Services is now registered as an NDIS service provider with the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, which is responsible for safeguarding NDIS participants and monitoring service providers. The NDIS registration has contributed to improvements in DHS Disability Services’ complaints management policy and processes through regular audits to ensure compliance.
DHS Disability Services continues to work with the South Australian Community Visitor Scheme by supporting visits to its sites to ensure the promotion of the rights of people with disability. It appropriately responds to reports provided by the Community Visitor Scheme to ensure there is continual improvement of service delivery and that responsive and quality care and support is provided across the service.
The voice call function was initiated in Microsoft Teams to enable the Grants SA administration team to answer calls to the customer phone line while working remotely. This was implemented after comments from customers that they did not want to leave messages on voicemail when enquiring about grants.

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