Health Insurance Commission                                                PO BOX 1001                                                           Tuggeranong ACT                                                                        

Health Care Complaints Commission and Patient Support Office files

Working on the premise of  ‘prevention is better than cure’…

If you sense things are going wrong with the care your child is receiving, the attitude of  your child’s doctor(s) changes, or if any of your child’s doctors becomes abusive in anyway, trust your instinct and immediately contact your local Patient Support Officer (PSO) and apply for a copy of your child’s clinical records. The PSO’s numbers are:

Western Sydney          

Northern Sydney

South East Sydney

If you are not happy with the information that your child's doctor has given to DoCS in respect of your child's notification you can make a written complaint to the Health Care Complaints Commission or raise your concerns with your local patient support officer.

If you are not happy with how your PSO has handled your concerns, contact the HCCC and complain about the PSO concerned and ask for support from another PSO who is cognisant with the issues to hand.

If you have made a complaint to a PSO or/and the Health Care Complaints Commission, and you are not happy with the outcome of  the complaint, or the Assessment Committee’s decision, you can either raise your concerns with the PSO Manager on 02) 92197444 or write to the Commission and seek a review of the Commission’s decision. FRAME may be able to assist you in this matter.

If you want to access any of the information contained within your Commission or PSO file, or obtain any information obtained during the resolution process, write to:

Freedom of Information Manager 

Health Care Complaints Commission

Locked Mail Bag 18 

Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

Tel. no. 02 92197444  

Toll free no. 1800 043 159  

TTY for the deaf  02 9219 7555

Dept. of Community Services DoCS file

FRAME strongly recommends that you immediately ask for a copy of your child’s ‘Notification Intake Sheet” with the name of the “notifier blanked out” (You won’t get it anyway so don’t both asking for the name of the notifier. The identity of the notifier is protected under the child protection legislation) immediately that your child has been made the subject of a notification by a doctor/hospital. In addition, FRAME strongly recommends that you attend all of the child protection planning meetings held in respect of your child. It is also extremely important that you apply for a copy of your child’s DoCS file under the FOI Act. This will cost you $15 if you are a pensioner and $30 if you are waged.

In addition to attending all of the protection planning meetings with a friend/advocate and a Patient Support Officer (PSO) (if available and who can bare witness to the proceedings of the meeting), FRAME strongly recommends that you  keep a record of every phone call and piece of correspondence that you ever send to, or receive from, DoCS. The record should include day, date, time, content and the name of the person you spoke to. Always follow up a phone call with a letter or e-mail reiterating the content of the phone call

To obtain a copy of your child’s DoCS file write to:

Freedom of Information Coordinator

Department of Community Services (DoCS)

Locked Bag 28

Ashfield NSW 1800

tel. 02) 97162222

(No Toll-free number. Make a complaint)

Community Services Commission file

If you are not happy with how DoCS has managed your child’s case, you can write to the Community Services Commission and make a complaint. If the issue involves an accusation of ‘medically defined’ child abuse, please contact FRAME as we may be able to assist you.

Freedom of Information Coordinator

Community Services Commission

Locked mail Bag 16

Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

Tel.  02 9384 4999 

toll free no.  1800 060 409

website address: www.csb.nsw.gov.au

Office of the Legal Commission

If you are not happy with how your child’s lawyer is handling your child’s legal case, contact FRAME and we might be able to assist with getting another lawyer for your child. In addition, we strongly recommend that you apply for a transcript of your child’s court case, if the matter has been to court.

You need to apply for a copy of the transcript of the court case from the court where your child’s case was heard and you need to do that within 7 years of the date of the hearing, otherwise the tape recording of the case will be wiped.

To make a complaint about a lawyer/solicitor write to:

Office of the Legal Commissioner

GPO Box 4460

Sydney NSW 2001

Tel. No. 02) 9377 1800

Toll-free 1800 242 958

Website address: www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/olsc1.nsf/pages/index.

Judicial Commission of NSW

If you  are not happy with how the magistrate or the judge handled your child’s case, or what she/he said in court: 1) apply for a copy of the court transcript, 2) contact FRAME who will give you advice about what to write to the Judicial Commission or 3) write to the Judicial commission. Their address is:

                        Mr Schmatt

                        Chief Executive Officer

                        Judicial Commission of NSW

                        Level 5. Wynyard House

                        301, George Street

                        Sydney NSW 2000

                        Email [email protected]

                        Tel. No. 02) 9299 4421

Other useful addresses:

Ombudsman’s Office

If your concern is about any mal-administration in any government department or public hospital/community health centre, or Area Health Service which includes, among other things:

• Failure to comply with legislation (especially the FOI Act, the HCCC Act, the Children (Care and Protection ) Act 1983 and the Health Administration Act. 

• Waste of public money.

Write to the:   

Ombudsman’s Office (NSW) 

Locked Mail Bag 16

Strawberry Hills NSW 2012

02) 9286 1000

Toll-free 1800 451 524        

Website address: www.nswombudsman.nsw.gov.au

Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)

If your complaint involves any kind of corrupt conduct involving a doctor, a hospital, a DoCS officer, a DoCS legal officer, a government employee, or a police officer, please inform FRAME and write to ICAC. Corrupt conduct can involve:

Threatening to notify your child to DoCS or make your child a ward of the state  if you do not sign a consent form.

Threatening to take your child away if you do not admit you having hurt your child, shaken your child, or have Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP) etc….

·        Threatening to take your child away if you do not submit to a psychiatric examination from a DoCS psychiatrist. Do not ever do this. Always agree to a psychiatric evaluation if it is conditional on keeping your child, but have it with the psychiatrist of your choice.

ICAC’s address is:

Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)

GPO Box 500

Sydney NSW 2001

02 9318 5999

toll-free 1800 463 909

website address: www.icac.nsw.gov.au

Applying for a copy of your children's file when your child has only been to one facility within one Area Health service e.g Sydney Children’s Hospital within S.E. Sydney. Hospital FOI form

Applying for a copy of your child’s file when she/he has been to several hospitals within the same Area Health authority (Some area health authorities do not allow this). Area wide FOI form.

* These form letters can be downloaded free-of-charge from the FRAME web-site: FRAME@             or can be obtained as a fact sheet from FRAME for a minimal administration fee. They can even be customised for your own child for an additional fee. This work is provided by a private person and you must make your own personal arrangements with that person. Contact details can be provided on request. * FRAME does not take legal responsibility for private contractual arrangements.