Contact us

Let the staff involved in your care know that you have a concern. You can also ask someone you trust to speak with staff on your behalf.

If you’re worried about a change in your condition or someone you’re caring for, reach out to the care staff or the manager of the service.

If you’re still worried, you can  call the REACH team for an independent assessment.

You can contact the Health Service Manager/General Manager of the facility. 

Health Service Managers/General Managers are available Monday to Friday, during business hours or for urgent assistance outside of these hours please ask to speak with the Executive on Call. 

If you’re not satisfied with the management of a complaint, you can put your concern in writing to the:

Consumer Relations Office 
Mid North Coast Local Health District ​​​ 
PO Box 126
Port Macquarie NSW 2444
Phone: 1800 726 997
Email: MNCLHD-ConsumerRelations@health.nsw.gov.au

You may also contact the Health Care Complaints Commission, which is independent of the public health system.  

Complaint investigation and resolution can be a complicated and highly sensitive process for all parties involved.  To achieve the best possible outcome, a complaint is best made at the right time and in the right place, as outlined above. This helps ensure that services and the experience of other patients are not disrupted and that details can be captured and recorded in an appropriate way.

For the complaints management process to be effective and productive, all participants must be willing to engage in a respectful and appropriate manner. The manner in which engagement occurs during complaints management can maximise the benefits at both a personal and systemic level.

The Mid North Coast LHD complaint management process is informed by the following policies:

• NSW Health Policy Directive 2015_049 Code of Conduct
• NSW Health Policy Directive 2020_013 Complaint Management
• NSW Health Guideline 2020_008 Complaint Management Guidelines
• NSW Health Policy Directive 2014_028 Open Disclosure Policy
• NSW Health Policy Directive 2015_001 Preventing and Managing Violence in the NSW Health Workplace – A Zero Tolerance Approach 
• NSW Health Guideline 2019_008 Communicating Positively: A Guide to Appropriate Aboriginal Terminology
• Cultural Respect Framework 2016-26 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
• Ombudsman NSW: Managing unreasonable conduct by a complainant

We collect your personal information so that we can provide you with treatment and advice. Test results and further information collected while you are being treated are kept with your health record. We only collect information that is relevant and necessary for your treatment and to manage the health services we provide. 

We collect information directly from you, wherever possible. We may need to collect information from other health professionals who have treated you. In an emergency, we may also need to collect information from a family member, friend, carer or other person who can help us to provide you with the best care. 

Your information may be held in paper or electronic files, including visual image and audio formats. We take all reasonable steps to ensure the information we collect about you is stored securely. We are required by law to retain health records for certain periods of time, depending on the type of record and facility. We have appropriate systems and policies in place to protect your information from loss, unauthorised access and misuse. 

If you do not wish for us to collect certain information about you, you need to tell us and we will discuss with you any consequences this may have for your health care. 

You can ask for any kind of personal information pertaining to you, which is contained in your health record and created by the health service agency you are making the request from. This information may include emergency, outpatient and inpatient notes, community health services, pathology results and medical imaging reports, the health service agency correspondence, medication sheets and discharge summaries. 

You are also entitled to view your health information, and this can be organised by contacting the Hospital or Community Health Centre. A healthcare provider or health information manager must be present for this viewing. 

Access to your personal health information may be declined in special circumstances, such as where giving you access would put you or another person at risk of harm. Access may also be declined if parts of your health record contains information which, by law, cannot be given to you, such as information about another person. 

Complete a  Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 Application Form and either post to or drop off at the Hospital or Community Health Centre, addressed to “Medical Records Department/Health Information and Records Service”, or to the manager of the health service facility you attended

• If you’re a parent or legal guardian requesting health information about your child, you will need to show that you are in fact the child’s parent or guardian and an original birth certificate or guardianship documentation will need to be sighted or an authenticated copy sent by mail. 
• If you’re a separated parent you will need to show the child’s birth certificate and also evidence that you are the child’s parent. Each parent has authority to request the child’s health information, unless the Family Court has specifically removed that right from you. 
• If the child is over 14 years of age it is necessary to have authority from the child as well as yourself. 
• If the child is over the age of 16 years, it is appropriate for the child to make the request for release of information from their record. 

Depending on the format of the information you request, the health service will photocopy or print the requested material and send it to you by mail, or you may collect the information in person from your hospital.

You are also entitled to have your personal information, including your health information, amended to correct inaccuracies. 

If you believe the health information we hold about you is incorrect, please let your healthcare provider or the relevant facility Health Information and Record Service know. Appropriate action will be taken, and you will be informed of the outcome.

To assist us in maintaining accurate health information please advise your healthcare provider, relevant administrative staff or the relevant facility Health Information​ Service if, for example, you change your name, address, contact details, or general practitioner details.

Subpoenas should be addressed to the Health Information Manager of the hospital that holds the records pertaining to the schedule of the subpoena. You can find the addresses on our Hospitals and Community Health Centres page.

The party issuing the subpoena shall be charged a per patient per facility fee for requests addressed to the Local Health District. 

Where: 

• At least 5 working days’ notice is given for the production of the record to Court ($75) 
• Less than 5 working days’ notice is given for the production of the record to Court ($113) 

An additional photocopying fee of 41 cents per page is also applicable. 

Mid North Coast LHD has a centralised service point that receives and responds to Chapter 16A requests for the Mid North Coast Local Health District. 

Under Chapter 16A of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 an organisation that is a prescribed body can be requested to provide and share any information it holds relating to the safety, welfare or wellbeing of a particular child or young person. 

Information exchanged between prescribed bodies under Chapter 16A is preferably done so verbally, between a worker in a prescribed agency and a health worker. 

Prescribed bodies include services that work with children and young people or their families and include but are not limited to state government agencies, non-government organisations, Aboriginal medical services, education providers and childcare centres and medical practitioners. 

The contact details of Mid North Coast LHD Central Contact Point are: 

• Phone: 02 6562 0375 
• Fax: 02 5524 2510
• Email: MNCLHD-ChildProtection@health.nsw.gov.au

A formal application for information held by Mid North Coast LHD (other than your own personal health record detailed above) must: 

• be in writing, using the Mid North Coast LHD Government Information Access Application Form
• clearly state that it is made under the GIPA Act 
• have an Australian postal address for return correspondence 
• provide enough details to enable the information you require to be identified; and 
• enclose the application fee of $30.00 by cheque or money order (made payable to Mid North Coast Local Health District). 

Requests for personal information 

Where the information you are seeking to access is personal information, you must include certified proof of identification. If you are applying for personal information about someone other than yourself, you must include any documentation clearly authorising you to access such information about or on their behalf. 

Getting your application to us 

Applications should be submitted to: 

Consumer Relations Coordinator 
Mid North Coast Local Health District 
PO Box 126
Port Macquarie NSW 2444

Phone: 1800 726 997
Email: MNCLHD-ConsumerRelations@health.nsw.gov.au

Additional processing charges 

You may be required to pay additional processing charges for a request.  If this is the case you will be notified and a statement of the charges will be provided.  There are circumstances where a reduction of the additional fees and charges may be possible. This should be discussed with the Consumer Relations Coordinator in the processing of your application. 

Decisions about requests 

Once we have made a decision on your access application you will be notified of the outcome of your request.  

If Mid North Coast Local Health District makes a decision to not release information due to an overriding public interest this decision will be recorded in the Disclosure Log, including the reasons for not releasing the information. 

Assistance with your application 

For further information or assistance with your application, email MNCLHD-ConsumerRelations@health.nsw.gov.au.

If you do not agree with a decision made by Mid North Coast LHD regarding a formal information access application, you have the right to request a review of the decision.  The Information and Privacy Commission provides more information on your review rights under the GIPA Act.

You may apply for an internal review, which is undertaken by a more senior Mid North Coast LHD employee. Requests for internal reviews must be made in writing, within 20 working days of the date you received the initial notice of decision.

Applications should be submitted to:

Consumer Relations Coordinator 
Mid North Coast Local Health District 
PO Box 126
Port Macquarie NSW 2444

For further information or assistance with your application, email MNCLHD-ConsumerRelations@health.nsw.gov.au.

Government agencies are encouraged to release information without the need for a formal application, unless there are good reasons to require one.

To discuss an informal request for information, email MNCLHD-ConsumerRelations@health.nsw.gov.au.

Any documents tabled in Parliament by or on behalf of Mid North Coast LHD since the commencement of the GIPA Act will be published as links here. 

The GIPA Act requires agencies to record and publish certain information about some contracts with private sector bodies. Part 3, Division 5 of the GIPA Act states that information about contracts worth more than $150,000 between agencies and private sector bodies must be recorded in a register of government contracts. 

View the contracts register then email us to request a copy of the releasable information. 

Information which we are required to make freely available to the public can be found on this website, including details about our goals, purpose and values, hospitals and health services information, reports and budgets, employment opportunities and our contact details.

Additional open access information can be found below.

The Mid North Coast LHD Disclosure Log contains details of information we have previously released under the GIPA Act. 

Summary information is provided for each release. You may request further details about released information, including copies, by MNCLHD-ConsumerRelations@health.nsw.gov.au.

Requests for personal information are not included in the disclosure log.

You may also wish to access the NSW Health Disclosure Log.