As a user (client, patient) of the health and social services system, you have the right to safe and high quality care and services. If you are not satisfied with the care or service you receive or you feel that your rights as a user have not been respected, you can file a complaint with the Service Quality and Complaints Commissioner.

Who is the Service Quality and Complaints Commissioner?

This person is there to:

1. ensure that the rights of users and residents are respected
2. handle complaints
3. promote quality care and services

The Service Quality and Complaints Commissioner is fully independent and has an arm’s length relationship with the organization and its facilities where you received care and services. He handles complaints in full confidentiality and sends his findings to the complainant, along with proposed solutions to solve the problem within a 45-day period, as stipulated in the Act respecting health services and social services.

Dissatisfaction

1. First, we encourage you to advise the staff or the professionals (caseworkers) who worked on your case of your dissatisfaction. You can also ask to meet the person responsible for the care or services in question. Letting these people know about your dissatisfaction can sometimes lead them to behave with you differently and in a satisfactory manner. At every meeting, you may be accompanied by a person of your choice or by a user committee (or resident committee)
2. Secondly, if you are still dissatisfied, you may file a complaint with the Service Quality and Complaints Commissioner. Support from the user committee (or resident committee) may also be useful for you at this stage. The Centre d’assistance et d’accompagnement aux plaintes de l’Outaouais (CAAP-Outaouais) is a community organization that can also help you at this stage. It is responsible for assisting and supporting individuals who wish to file a complaint. These services are free and confidential.
3. If you are still dissatisfied after filing a complaint and receiving the findings, the rationale and the solutions proposed by the Commissioner or by the Medical examiner, there is another recourse available to you. The Protecteur du citoyen du Québec is independent and is responsible for ensuring that citizens’ rights are respected whenever they access with public services.