Complaints, insight and remediation
Speaking up safely about patient risk, colleagues and serious wrongdoing under the HPCA Act and the Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022
Doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, oral health practitioners, paramedics and allied health practitioners registered under the HPCA Act 2003, plus managers and clinical leaders who receive concerns.
Structured learning and a written reflection to show insight after a complaint, an investigation or a responsible authority inquiry.
Focused learning on a core standard of practice, with a certificate and reflection for your portfolio.
This course teaches health practitioners in New Zealand how to raise concerns effectively, lawfully and fairly: from a real-time challenge at the bedside, through notifications to a responsible authority under sections 34 and 45 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, to protected disclosures of serious wrongdoing under the Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022. It explains who can disclose, what counts as serious wrongdoing, which receivers are recognised, and what protections and receiver duties apply.
It is written for doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, oral health practitioners, paramedics and allied health practitioners in public and private settings, and for managers and clinical leaders who receive concerns. Realistic New Zealand cases cover locums, contractors, small private practices, aged residential care, community pharmacy and Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora services, alongside the codes of the Medical, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dental and Midwifery Councils.
Silence about known risks appears again and again in reviews of avoidable harm. The course helps you choose the right route, protect patient privacy, write a clear disclosure, recognise and respond to retaliation, receive concerns well as a leader, build a culturally safe speaking-up culture, and show insight if you ever failed to act.
10 sections · 26 lessons · 3 hours (estimated) · 20-question final assessment
Final assessment
20scenario-based questions
Certificate of completion
A certificate of completion for your learning portfolio.
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.
The Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022 protects someone who reasonably believes serious wrongdoing has happened or may be happening and discloses it to an appropriate receiver. The course explains sections 8 and 10, what counts as serious wrongdoing and how the route you choose affects the protections.
The course explains that the 2022 Act does not treat the media, the public or MPs as appropriate authorities, so going public first can cost you its protection. It helps you choose a suitable receiver, such as your organisation, a responsible authority, HDC or the Ombudsman.
Sometimes. The course applies HPCA Act sections 34, 35 and 45 to competence and health concerns about colleagues, including mandatory duties and the protection for notifiers acting in good faith, alongside the speaking-up expectations in each council's code and statements.
Confidentiality of the discloser's identity, immunity from proceedings for making the disclosure, and protection from retaliation and victimisation. The course also covers the duties receivers must meet within 20 working days and how to escalate if nothing happens. Each protection is explained in plain terms.
No. It is education, not legal advice, and no council or board has approved it. Before making a particular disclosure, get advice from your union, professional body, indemnity provider or a lawyer. Course length is 3 hours (estimated), and NZ$139 includes the final test, certificate and your reflection on speaking up.
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.
Lessons, scenarios and assessment questions are written by us for each edition separately, then checked for accuracy, teaching quality and fair assessment before publication.
When a code, standard or law changes, the affected courses are reviewed and updated. Reported errors in legal or regulatory facts are corrected first.
What regulators expect: scope and APCs, teamwork and leadership, conduct outside work and online, health notifications and raising concerns about colleagues.
Recognise, rate and report harm and near misses under the 2023 national adverse events policy, then turn your report into learning.
Why capable practitioners make errors and what to do about it: cognition, workload, fatigue, situational awareness, design, teamwork and speaking up.
