Purpose

This policy and procedure sets out how any person can provide feedback and make complaints about any aspect of Sparrow Collective’s operations and the process of addressing or responding to feedback and complaints.

Definitions

Compliment – an expression of praise, encouragement or gratitude about an individual staff member, a team or a service.

Complaint – an expression of dissatisfaction made to or about an organisation, related to its products, services, staff or the handling of a complaint, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected.

For the purpose of this policy and procedure, a complaint is defined as an issue of a minor nature that can be addressed promptly or within 24 hours, and does not require a detailed investigation. Complaints include an expression of displeasure, such as poor service, and any verbal or written complaint directly related to the service (including general and notifiable complaints).

General complaint – addresses any aspect of the service e.g. a lost clothing item or the service's fees. The complaint must be dealt with as soon as is practicable to avoid escalation of the issue.

Grievance – a formal statement of complaint that cannot be addressed immediately and involves matters of a more serious nature e.g. the service is in breach of a policy or the service did not meet the care expectations of a family. 

Applicability

When

• applies when participants want to submit feedback or make a complaint;

• applies to all feedback and complaints received regardless of the source.

Who

• applies to all representatives including key management personnel, directors, full-time workers, part-time or casual workers, job candidates; student placements, apprentices, contractors, volunteers

Documents relevant to this policy

• Complaint record form

• Complaint register

• Feedback and complaint Policy and Procedure (easy read)

Policy

• Compliments, complaints and other feedback provide:

• valuable information about participant satisfaction; and

• an opportunity to improve upon all aspects of its service.

• Sparrow Collective records and handles feedback effectively in order to:

• identify areas for improvement;

• coordinate a consistent approach to complaint resolution;

• reduce the potential for future complaints; and

• allow for reporting and efficient allocation of resources.

• Sparrow Collective’s feedback, compliment and complaint handling system addresses the principles of:

• visibility and accessibility;

• Responsiveness;

• assessment and investigation;

• Feedback;

• continuous improvement; and

•  service excellence

• Sparrow Collective seeks to build a responsive, efficient, effective and fair complaint management system. Resolving complaints at the earliest opportunity in a way that respects and values the person’s feedback can:

• aid in recovering the person’s confidence about Sparrow Collective’s services;

• help prevent further escalation of the complaint.

•  Sparrow Collective’s approach to feedback, compliments and complaints management ensures:

• people understand their rights and responsibilities;

• information on the feedback, compliment and complaint management process is easily accessible;

• increased satisfaction of participants in the management of their compliments and complaints;

• the recording of data to identify existing or emerging trends or systemic issues;

• staff demonstrate an awareness of Sparrow Collective’s feedback, compliments and complaints management processes;

• staff develop the range of skills and capabilities required to manage compliments, complaints and feedback; and

• an organisational culture that is focused on effective, person-centred complaints resolution and utilising feedback for continuous improvement.