Privacy complaints
If you believe that Queensland Health (aka Department of Health) has not handled your personal information in accordance with the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) (IP Act), you can make a privacy complaint.
You can only make a privacy complaint on behalf of another person if they have authorised you to do so, they are a minor/child and you are their parent or guardian, they lack capacity, and you are their guardian or have other legal authority to act for them. If you are making a privacy complaint for someone else, please include an authority from them or other evidence (e.g. a birth certificate showing they are a minor/child and you are their parent).
To make a privacy complaint to the Department of Health, you must send your privacy complaint to the Department of Health in writing and include:
- an address for us to respond to you (e.g. an email address)
- details about the matter or issues you are complaining about (e.g. what did the Department of Health do or not do with your personal information that you believe breached the Queensland Privacy Principles (QPPs) and the IP Act.
It’s best to make your privacy complaint as soon as you are aware that your privacy may have been breached. The earlier you tell us, the sooner we can act. Make sure you tell us what outcome you are seeking or the action you want us to take.
A privacy complaint must be made within 12 months after you become aware of the act or practice the subject of the complainant, or a longer period agreed by our agency. If you wish to complain about an act or practice that took place more than 12 months ago, tell us the reason for the delay when lodging your privacy complaint.
To properly and efficiently respond to your privacy complaint, you should ensure that it contains sufficient information to enable the Department of Health to understand the nature of your complaint, the impact it has had on you and what outcome you are seeking.
Attach copies of any documents you consider may assist the Department of Health to investigate your privacy complaint.
In the course of conducting the investigation, the nature of your privacy complaint and your identity may need to be provided to relevant business areas within the Department of Health and third parties including the Hospital and Health Services. You can advise us that you do not wish for the Department of Health to do this but be aware that this may mean we cannot properly investigate and resolve the privacy complaint.
Hospital or Health Service privacy complaint
If your complaint is about the way a Hospital and Health Service (HHS) has dealt with your personal information, you will need to contact them directly.
Find the privacy contact for your HHS.
Contact address for Privacy complaints for the Department of Health
Your privacy complaint should be marked Private and Confidential and sent:
By post:
Principal Privacy Officer
Privacy and Right to Information Unit
Department of Health
GPO Box 48
BRISBANE QLD 4001
By email:
Responding to your privacy complaint
An acknowledgement letter or email will be sent to you within 5 business days of the receipt of the privacy complaint. To make sure your personal information is protected, we take precautions to verify the identity of complainants. Depending on the nature of your privacy complaint, we may request that you provide sufficient evidence of identity in order to progress with your complaint. If we require further information, we will contact you.
We will then respond within 45 business days outlining our decision and reasons for this decision.
However, if your privacy complaint is complex or requires extensive work and consultation, we may not be able to respond within 45 business days. If this happens, we will write to you requesting an extension for a further specified period.
Withdraw a privacy complaint
If you wish to withdraw a privacy complaint, it must be in writing. We may still continue with the assessment if the privacy complaint involves a serious or significant issue that requires further management.
Further action
If you are not satisfied with our response, or have not received a response, and at least 45 business days have passed since the privacy complaint was made in writing to the Department of Health, you can refer the privacy complaint to the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) Queensland.
This can be done through the online complaints form or in person, post or email.
Find out more about lodging a privacy complaint with the OIC.