Complaints & Concerns

The Board protects the health and safety of members of the New Zealand public in their dealings with psychologists. The scope of our role includes responding to concerns raised about practitioners, including those related to a practitioner’s competence, conduct or fitness to practise.

1. When the Board receives a complaint or notification which involves a health consumer it must first be referred to the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC). Board cannot take any action under Part 4 of the Act on a complaint while it is being assessed or investigated by the HDC. (It can, however, take action under other Parts of the
2. If the complaint or notification relates to a Family Court Specialist Report Writer, the Family Court will first review it, in accordance with the Specialist Court Report Writers Practice Note. The Family Court may decide that the matter before the court must be addressed before the concern can be referred back to the Board.

When considering concerns about a practitioner, the Board takes account of the following standards and documents:

• the relevant Core Competencies for Psychologists (including cultural competencies and additional competencies for vocational scopes of practice);
• the Code of Ethics for Psychologists Working in Aotearoa New Zealand 2002;
• any relevant Best Practice Guidelines adopted or published by the Board;
• the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance (HPCA) Act 2003;
• the Board’s adopted Decision Guidelines Relating to Parts 3 & 4 of the HPCA Act;
• Formal complaints related to reports written for the Family Court are managed in accordance with the Family Court’s published “Practice Note – Specialist Report Writers” .

If you raise a concern with us about a psychologist, you can expect us to treat you fairly and to discuss each stage of the complaints process with you. We will keep you informed about expected timeframes and provide updates on the progress of the complaints process.

We consider each complaint/notification and the best way to respond to it individually. Depending on the nature of the matter, we may not respond to anonymous complaints.

The Board is not able to:

• consider a concern about a practitioner who was not registered as a psychologist at the time of the event(s) that gave rise to the concern;
• consider concerns about organisations (we are authorised only to deal with concerns about individual psychologists);
• get directly involved in the service being provided to a client by a psychologist;
• arrange refunds or compensation;
• give legal advice;
• force a psychologist to apologise; or
• effect any changes to reports written for third parties (such as the Family Court, ACC, or the Parole Board).

When we are considering a formal complaint or notification, we must inform the psychologist involved. This includes letting them know the name of the person who has raised the concern. Your private contact details will not be included in any documents we send to the psychologist.