"Disappointing response to complaint about physiotherapy"

Formal feedback, which included six pages of substantiating information, about inadequate inpatient physiotherapy services was submitted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) Consumer Liaison Service. The complaint included concern that a physiotherapy review of an inpatient was repeatedly unavailable for a period of a week. 

More than 35 days elapsed before a written response was received from the Consumer Liaison Service. Unfortunately this ignored the specific questions which were posed and failed to address the serious concerns that had been identified. The complaint was dismissed with a generic acknowledgment that “resource restrictions mean that the service is not always able to meet the expectations of all patients and their families every day.” I feel this is a sad indictment of the Allied Health Service and the complaints process as on this occasion it was not just the patient and family expectations, but also those of the Royal Melbourne Hospital treating team doctors, that had failed to be met.