Complaints, insight and remediation

Rebuilding Trust After a Complaint

Repairing relationships with patients, whānau, colleagues, employers, your responsible authority and yourself after a concern in Aotearoa New Zealand

NZ$139Enrol now What is included

3hours (estimated)
10sections
20final questions
80%pass mark
PDFcertificate

Online and self-paced, on any device
Reflective account template
Knowledge checks in every section
Instant certificate of completion

Written for New ZealandUpdated 5 October 2026

What you will learn

Describe trust as four linked elements (competence, integrity, care and reliability) and identify which elements a particular complaint has damaged, and for whom.
Match the repair response to the kind of breach, distinguishing what rebuilds trust after a competence lapse from what is needed after an integrity lapse.
Apply a staged repair sequence of acknowledging, accounting, amending, assuring and sustaining, and recognise behaviours that undo repair attempts.
Decide, with reference to the Code of Rights and your regulator's code, whether and how to continue caring for a patient who complained, without retaliation or neglect.
Plan a restorative conversation or hui with a patient and whānau that is safe, voluntary and culturally responsive, and follow through on commitments.
Re-enter a team after a concern, including when a colleague made the notification, in a way that restores working relationships without breaching process confidentiality.
Work with an employer on a return-to-full-duties plan and handle disclosure honestly when changing jobs, applying for an annual practising certificate or giving references.
Comply with conditions, programmes and supervision in a way that builds a documented track record your responsible authority can rely on.
Respond proportionately to published decisions, media interest and online comment while protecting patient privacy.
Build a personal plan for sustaining trustworthiness and your own professional confidence over the following years.

Who this course is for

Doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dental and oral health practitioners, paramedics and allied health practitioners registered under the HPCA Act 2003 who are dealing with, or have come through, a complaint or concern; also supervisors and clinical leaders who support them.

Doctors (MCNZ) Nurses (Nursing Council) Midwives (Midwifery Council) Dental professions (Dental Council) Pharmacists (Pharmacy Council) Other HPCA Act professions

After a concern

Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a responsible authority inquiry.

Routine CPD

Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.

About this course

This course is about what happens to relationships after a complaint or concern, and how a health practitioner can earn trust back. It treats trust as something with parts that can be damaged separately: confidence in your competence, belief in your honesty, a sense that you care, and the expectation that you will do what you say. It then works through each group whose trust is affected: the patient and whānau, colleagues and the wider team, your employer, your responsible authority and, where it applies, the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, the community you serve, and your own confidence in your practice.

It is written for doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, dental and oral health practitioners, paramedics, psychologists, physiotherapists and other practitioners registered under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, whether a complaint is still open, has recently closed or ended with conditions, a competence programme or a Tribunal penalty. It is also useful for clinical leaders and supervisors who support colleagues after a concern.

Responding to a complaint, remediating and showing insight are covered in separate courses. This one picks up the relational work that those processes do not finish for you: continuing care with a patient who complained, restorative conversations, returning to a team that knows what happened, keeping an employer's confidence, complying with conditions in a way that builds a track record, moving jobs honestly, living with published decisions in a small country, and repairing trust in a way that is culturally safe and consistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Course details

Learning time: Approximately 3 hours (estimated learning time including knowledge checks, reflection and assessment)
Standards covered: Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights (Rights 1, 4, 5, 6 and 10; clause 3); Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994; HPCA Act 2003 (ss 34, 36–44, 69, 100, 101 and 118); MCNZ Good medical practice (2021) and statements on Ending a doctor-patient relationship, Concerns about another doctor, Disclosure of harm and Cultural safety; Nursing Council Code of Conduct principles 4, 6, 7 and 8; Midwifery Council Code of Conduct; Pharmacy Council Code of Ethics 2018 principle 4; Dental Council Standards Framework (maintain public trust and confidence); HQSC National adverse events policy 2023; Health Information Privacy Code 2020; Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022; Employment Relations Act 2000
Format: Self-paced, gated lessons with knowledge checks, case studies and reflection
Assessment: 20 scenario-based questions, 80% to pass (16 of 20)
Outcome: Certificate of completion and a written reflection for your CPD record
Alignment: Mapped to the Code of Rights and to the trust, integrity, collegiality and public-confidence standards of the Medical, Nursing, Midwifery, Pharmacy and Dental Councils and other responsible authorities

Course curriculum

10 sections · 24 lessons · 3 hours (estimated) · 20-question final assessment

1Understanding trust and how a complaint damages it3 lessons
- What trust is made of
- How a complaint damages trust, and whose
- Why repair is possible, and what it is not
2Principles of trust repair3 lessons
- Competence breaches and integrity breaches need different repair
- A five-stage repair sequence
- Behaviours that undo repair
3Rebuilding trust with patients and whānau3 lessons
- Continuing to care for a patient who complained
- Restorative conversations and hui
- Following through and respecting the patient's choice
4Rebuilding trust with colleagues and the team3 lessons
- How a complaint ripples through a team
- Returning to your team
- When the concern came from a colleague
5Rebuilding trust with your employer3 lessons
- Your employer's position after a complaint
- A return-to-full-duties plan
- Moving jobs, references and declarations
6Rebuilding trust with your responsible authority and the Tribunal3 lessons
- What a regulator's trust rests on
- Living with conditions, programmes and supervision
- Building a track record toward fewer restrictions
7Public trust, community and culture3 lessons
- Published decisions, media and online comment
- Te Tiriti, cultural safety and mana-enhancing repair
- Trusting yourself again and sustaining trust over time
8Conclusion and key points1 lesson
- Conclusion and key points
9References and further reading1 lesson
- References and further reading
10Your reflective account1 lesson
- Your reflective account

Assessment and certificate

Final assessment

20scenario-based questions

Pass mark 80%: 16 correct out of 20
Knowledge checks in each section as you go
Tests whether you can apply the standards, not recall a page
Not passed yet? Review the sections and retake it

Certificate of completion

A certificate of completion for your learning portfolio.

Your name, the course title and the estimated learning time (record the time you actually spend)
Completion date and a unique certificate ID that can be verified
Ready to download as a PDF as soon as you complete the course

Fitness To Practice

Certificate of Completion

This certifies that

Your Name

has successfully completed

Rebuilding Trust After a Complaint

Completed12 Oct 2026

3hours (estimated)

Certificate IDFTS-7Q4K-2M9X

Continuing professional development record — New Zealand

Your reflective account

The course includes a structured reflective account template: guided prompts to record what you learned, how you will apply it and how the change will show in your practice. It gives you written evidence of insight after a concern, and a ready record for your CPD portfolio.

Write it in your own words and leave out anything that could identify a patient, a colleague or a case. If you have an open complaint or case, talk to your adviser before reflecting on it in writing.

Questions about this course

Which parts of trust can a complaint damage?

The course treats trust as four linked elements: confidence in your competence, belief in your integrity, a sense that you care, and reliability. A competence lapse and an integrity lapse damage different elements and need different repair, so you first work out what was damaged, and for whom.

What is the five-stage repair sequence?

Acknowledging, accounting, amending, assuring and sustaining. The course shows what each stage looks like with patients, colleagues, employers and your responsible authority, and the behaviours that undo repair, such as defensiveness, minimising or contacting a complainant in the wrong way.

Should I keep caring for a patient who complained about me?

The course helps you decide, using the Code of Rights and your regulator's code, whether and how to continue care without retaliation or neglect, and how to plan a restorative conversation or hui with a patient and whānau that is safe, voluntary and culturally responsive.

How do I handle disclosure of a past complaint when I change jobs?

Honestly. The course covers working with an employer on a return-to-full-duties plan, answering questions in job applications, references and APC declarations accurately, and responding proportionately to published decisions, media interest or online comment while protecting patient privacy. Concealment usually does more damage than the original complaint.

Does rebuilding trust help with my responsible authority or the Tribunal?

It shows how complying with conditions, programmes and supervision builds a documented track record an authority can rely on. It cannot promise any outcome, and ordered education must be confirmed with whoever set it. Three hours (estimated), NZ$139; no council has approved it.

How this course was built

Official sources only

Every legal and regulatory point comes from primary sources: the HPCA Act 2003, the responsible authorities' standards and the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights. Anything we cannot confirm is left out.

Original, edition by edition

Lessons, scenarios and assessment questions are written by us for each edition separately, then checked for accuracy, teaching quality and fair assessment before publication.

Reviewed when rules change

When a code, standard or law changes, the affected courses are reviewed and updated. Reported errors in legal or regulatory facts are corrected first.

Page updated 5 October 2026

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