Your Rights and Complaints

At Manawanui, we strive to get things right as often as we can. Service excellence is something we take seriously. Of course, we sometimes make mistakes and we want to know as soon as possible so we can make amends.

So whether it’s something you think we’ve done really well or really badly, we want to know. This document tells you about your rights when using our service, as well as how you can make a complaint if you are not happy and what will happen if you do. It also tells you how you can pay us a compliment if we do things you like, so we can do those things more often. Contact details are at the end of this document.

Your Rights

Under the Health and Disability Commissioners Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights regulations 1996 (the code), you have the following rights as someone who uses a service:

Right 1: the right to be treated with respect
Right 2: the right to freedom from discrimination, coercion, harassment and exploitation
Right 3: the right to dignity and independence
Right 4: the right to services of an appropriate standard
Right 5: the right to effective communication
Right 6: the right to be fully informed
Right 7: the right to make an informed choice and give informed consent
Right 8: the right to support
Right 9: rights in respect of teaching or research
Right 10: the right to complain

Complaints

Under the Code, you have the right to complain about our service in any form appropriate to you (e.g. face to face, by phone, email, and fax or in writing).

You may make a complaint to:

The individual or individuals who provided the services (e.g. a Representative or the National Service Manager of Manawanui); and
Any person authorised to receive complaints about that provider (e.g. the Ministry of Health); and
Any other appropriate person, including –
1. An independent advocate provided under the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994; and
2. The Health and Disability Commissioner.

If you make a complaint we will facilitate a fair, simple and efficient resolution. We will inform you about progress on your complaint at intervals of not more than 1 month.

We will ensure that your complaint is acknowledged in writing within 5 working days of receipt, unless it has been resolved to your satisfaction within that period.

We will also inform you of any relevant internal and external complaints procedures, including the availability of independent advocates provided under the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994 and the Health and Disability Commissioner.
We will ensure your complaint and the actions we take are documented and that you receive all information held by us, relevant to the complaint.

Within 10 working days of giving written acknowledgement of a complaint, we will decide whether we accept that complaint is justified or not. If we decide more time is needed to investigate the complaint, we will determine how much additional time is needed. If that additional time is more than 20 working days, we will tell you and explain the reasons why. As soon as possible after we decide whether or not we accept that a complaint is justified, we will tell you the reasons for the decision, any actions we propose to take and any appeal procedure we have in place.

Compliments

If we do something you like or something you think we should do more often, please tell us!

Your positive feedback will help us improve the service we provide.

MANWANUI SUPPORT

Phone: 09 444 8440, 0508 462 427
Email: info@manawanui.org.nz
Website: www.manawanui.org.nz

HEALTH AND DISABILITY COMMISSIONER

National Freephone: 0800 11 22 33
Email: hdc@hdc.org.nz
Website: www.hdc.org.nz

YOUR LOCAL ADVOCATE

Freephone: 0800 55 50 50
Free Fax: 0800 2 SUPPORT/0800 2787 7678
Email: advocacy@hdc.org.nz
Website: www.hdc.org.nz/advocacy