Feedback, Complaints and Resolution

• Our programs, both NDIS funded and our charitable services
• Our processes and the way we do our work
• Our events and any aspect of them
• Our staff and how they conduct themselves in any situation
• Our performance in general

You can provide feedback or make a suggestion or a complaint by contacting Muscular Dystrophy Queensland or discussing your issues with any one of our staff. Here are a few suggestions:

• Have a conversation with a Muscular Dystrophy Queensland staff member who will either try to resolve your complaint on the spot or refer it to a manger for resolution. The staff member will ask you whether you want the feedback to be referred and assist you in writing a summary of your feedback if that is necessary
• Our feedback form included above.
• You can email the CEO at pennyd@mdqld.org.au or write a letter to:
  Locked Bag 3020, Springwood, QLD, 4127.
• If you have receive a service as a member of our community, you may choose to provide feedback via our annual Client Survey.
• We have workshop and program evaluations, and occasional phone surveys

You can lodge your feedback or complaint with your contact details included or you may wish to lodge it anonymously.

If you have an issue with the CEO or one which you do not want to share at staff level, you can provide feedback or make complaints directly to the Board to the board Chairperson.

We would like you to be as comfortable as possible throughout lodging a complaint, having it investigated and resolved. We will support you to have a support person, an interpreter, a communication assistant, or a cultural ambassador. The support person role is to provide support and should not argue the case on behalf of the person making the complaint.

Muscular Dystrophy Queensland will provide an objective and positive response to any feedback, especially to any complaints. All complaints will be investigated, discussed with the person making the complaint and resolved as soon as possible. We aim to acknowledge your submission within 3 business days and resolve the issue within 21 days.

Where a complaint is made, all people involved in the complaint (both the person making the complaint and any person/s against whom the complaint has been made) will have the right to have the complaint investigated and resolved respectfully, confidentially and in a timely manner.

We will aim to:

• Complete an investigation which is proportionate to the nature of the complaint,
• Keep all parties informed as the investigation progresses
• Provide answers and take remedial action.

One or some of the following may happen once we have all the information:

• An apology. Mistakes can be made and it is only when you point those out that Muscular Dystrophy Queensland can improve.
• Clarification by the provision of more detailed information
• Changes in the processes which Muscular Dystrophy Queensland follows which may include additional staff training
• Reallocation of a client to another team member for service provision

Muscular Dystrophy Queensland will also communicate their actions in writing to the complainant.

You may not be satisfied with the outcome of our internal complaint investigation.  Should you be dissatisfied, you have the right to ask the CEO to refer your complaint to the Muscular Dystrophy Queensland Board or to direct it yourself to the Board Chairperson, via email chairperson@mdqld.org.au

If you are not satisfied with the board’s decisions or you wish to refer the complaint to an external agency, you may do so. The following agencies may be of assistance:

• NDIS Commission https://www.ndiscommission.gov.au/about/complaints (Muscular Dystrophy Queensland also has an information sheet about making a complaint to the NDIS Commission)
• Queensland Ombudsman https://www.ombudsman.qld.gov.au/how-to-complain
• Commonwealth Ombudsman https://forms.business.gov.au/smartforms/servlet/SmartForm.html?formCode=oco-complaint-form
• Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission https://www.acnc.gov.au/contact-us
• Queensland legal system
• As a whistleblower for matters of public interest or misconduct. (Muscular Dystrophy Queensland also has an information sheet about making a complaint as a whistleblower)

Following the complaint resolution, the management team will also review all aspects of the complaint and make changes needed to reduce the risk of similar situations arising.

The CEO also keeps the board informed and they analyse trends as well. An end of year report which includes a summary of the complaints, outcomes, and the changes made. The board again discusses any systemic issues and opportunities for improvement.