Feedback & Complaints.
Every SMSG patient has the right to give feedback or raise a complaint about their care. We take both seriously, we respond within defined timeframes, and we support external escalation where you prefer that route.
Contact your centre.
Complaints improve the practice.
The most useful information we receive about how SMSG is running comes from patients. Not from surveys, not from clinical outcome data alone, but from patients who tell us what worked and what did not. Positive feedback tells us where we should keep doing what we are doing. Complaints tell us where something needs to change.
Because of this, our approach to complaints is to welcome them, take them seriously, and treat them as information rather than as attacks on the clinicians or staff involved. Every complaint we receive is documented, reviewed by our practice management team, and, depending on severity, escalated to our Practice Operations team or to the clinicians involved.
We aim to close the loop with you on any complaint you raise. That means telling you what we found, what we changed as a result (if anything), and giving you a clear path if you are not satisfied with our response.
Three ways to reach us.
You do not need to escalate directly to a manager. Most feedback and complaints are handled well through the reception team at your centre, and this is usually the fastest way to a resolution.
Speak to the reception team at Earlwood, Bangor, or Sans Souci. If your concern requires a private discussion, ask reception for a quiet space and they will find one.
If your concern is about the clinician you are booked with and you would prefer not to speak to them directly, ask to speak to the practice management team.
- Earlwood(02) 9554 7788
- Bangor(02) 8582 1318
- Sans Souci(02) 7923 9103
Email the centre where the concern arose. Please do not send clinically urgent matters by email; emails are checked during business hours only.
- EarlwoodEMC@smsg.au
- BangorBMC@smsg.au
- Sans SouciSSD@smsg.au
What happens after you contact us.
Once we receive your feedback or complaint, this is what happens next.
- We acknowledge receipt of your complaint. If you have raised it at reception, this is immediate. If by email, we aim to respond promptly.
- The complaint is logged in our internal feedback register.
- The practice management team reviews the complaint and determines the appropriate response.
- If the complaint concerns clinical care, the treating clinician is informed and asked to provide a written response.
- If the complaint concerns reception, nursing, administrative, or facility matters, the practice management team investigates directly.
- Where a complaint is complex or requires input from multiple parties, we'll keep you updated on progress and let you know if more time is needed.
- We provide you with a response, including what we found, what we have done in response, and what changes (if any) we are making as a result.
- Where the complaint requires ongoing action, we tell you what the next steps are and when you should expect them.
How we protect you when you raise a complaint.
Raising a complaint at SMSG does not affect your ability to receive care at any of our centres, does not affect your relationship with any other clinician at the group, and is not shared with other patients under any circumstance.
Where a complaint concerns a specific clinician, that clinician will be informed of the complaint and given the opportunity to respond. This is required for procedural fairness. Your file continues to be managed under the same privacy protections that apply to all patient records.
If you are worried that raising a complaint will affect your care, please tell the practice management team when you contact us. We take confidentiality of complaints seriously.
Raising a concern anonymously.
If you would prefer to raise a concern without giving your name, you can. An anonymous email to any of our centre inboxes will be logged in the feedback register and reviewed by the practice management team the same way any other complaint would be.
The trade-off is that we will not be able to write back to you, confirm what we found, or tell you what we changed. If the concern relates to a specific appointment or clinician, an anonymous report also limits our ability to investigate the underlying facts. Where you are willing to share your name, we handle your details under the confidentiality protections described above, and you get the benefit of a written response and the chance to raise a follow-up if you are not satisfied.
If you would like to give your name to us in confidence but not have it shared with the clinician involved (for example, where you have raised a concern about a doctor you would still like to keep seeing), please say so when you contact us. We will handle the matter accordingly.
If our response does not resolve the concern.
If you are not satisfied with our internal response, or if you prefer to bypass our internal process entirely, you can escalate through the following external bodies.
The HCCC handles complaints about health services in NSW. This includes concerns about the standard of care provided, the conduct of a health practitioner, or the way a health service has responded to a complaint.
AHPRA handles notifications about registered health practitioners (medical practitioners, nurses, allied health practitioners) where there are concerns about their professional conduct, performance, or health.
Positive feedback and suggestions.
We are equally interested in feedback that is not a complaint. If a clinician, receptionist or nurse has given you excellent care and you would like us to know, please tell us. We share positive feedback with the team members involved, and it is a meaningful part of how we recognise and retain our team.
You are also welcome to leave a Google review for any of our three centres. Reviews help other patients understand what to expect and help us understand what patients value most.
