About Us
The Health and Disability Services Complaints Office (HaDSCO) is an independent Statutory Authority offering an impartial resolution service for complaints relating to health, mental health and disability services not provided by the NDIS in Western Australia and the Indian Ocean Territories.
Service provision covers the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, as well as prison health services and health and mental health services provided in immigration detention centres in Western Australia and the Indian Ocean Territories (Christmas Island and Cocos-Keeling Islands).
HaDSCO adopts a positive approach to complaint handling as we recognise the inherent value of complaints in terms of opportunities for improvement across the health, mental health and disability service sectors.
Services provided by HaDSCO in Western Australia are delivered in the context of supporting the overarching Western Australian state government goals of 1) Safe, strong and fair communities, and 2) Developing healthy and resilient communities.
HaDSCO's Director is Sarah Cowie, who has held this role since 2016.
HaDSCO’s responsible Minister is the Honourable Amber-Jade Sanderson MLA, Minister for Health; Mental Health.
Services provided in the Indian Ocean Territories are delivered in partnership with the Australian Government, through Commonwealth funding support.
Find out more about what we do in our Annual Report.
HaDSCO operates within two key service areas:
Service One: Assessment, negotiated settlement, conciliation and investigation of
complaints.
- We assist consumers and service providers to resolve complaints;
- Facilitate remedial actions; and
- Identify opportunities for system improvement.
Service Two: Education and training in the prevention and resolution of complaints.
- We work collaboratively with our stakeholders to share information about the causes of complaints;
- Provide education and training in effective complaint resolution; and
- Implement initiatives that contribute towards system improvement.
The HaDSCO 2017-21 Strategic Plan sets out the key priorities under Service One and Service Two. For more information on our Strategic Plan, please click here.
Governing legislation
Governing legislation includes (but is not limited to):- The Health and Disability Services (Complaints) Act 1995,
- The Health and Disability Services (Complaints) Amendment Act 2022,
- Part 6 of the Disability Services Act 1993, and
- Part 19 of the Mental Health Act 2014.
For more information about our governing legislation, please click here.
25 years of operation
For more than 25 years, HaDSCO has been providing a complaints handling service for the healthcare sector in Western Australia.
In total, more than 50,000 complaints relating to healthcare have been received since operations began in 1996, resulting in over 1,200 service improvements to health, mental health and disability services.
Originally known as the Office of Health Review, HaDSCO was established under the landmark legislation of the Health Services (Conciliation and Review) Act 1995 (the Act).
The Act recognises the important role of complaints in helping to identify deficiencies in health delivery systems and for improvements and changes to be made as a result.
The Office of Health Review changed its name to the Health and Disability Services Complaints Office (HaDSCO) in November 2010, following amendments to the Health and Disability Services (Complaints) Act 1995 and the Disability Services Act 1993.
Career Opportunities
Any vacancies will be advertised on WA Government Jobs Board - JobsWA. You need to be an Australian Citizen or permanent resident to gain permanent employment in the public sector, non-permanent residents may be eligible for fixed-term appointments.
HaDSCO encourages applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.