1. Background
We are committed to providing you with high quality care. This document outlines your rights and responsibilities as a client of Caraniche, ensuring that you receive the very best care possible from appropriately qualified and experienced staff.
If during the course of your engagement with Caraniche, you or your family have any concerns, please let your clinician know as soon as possible.
We commit to the rights listed in the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights. These are: access, safety, respect, communication, participation, privacy and feedback.
2. Scope
This Policy applies to anyone engaging with any service, product, team, or representative within Caraniche.
3. Your Rights
Access
You have the right to:
• Access assessment and/or treatment services which you are eligible for.
Safety
You have the right to:
• Be cared for in an environment that is safe and makes you feel safe.
• Have your individual safety needs met wherever possible.
Respect
You have the right to:
• Be treated as an individual, with respect and dignity. This includes the people who support you, including carers, family members and advocates.Rights and Responsibilities
• Have your culture, identity, beliefs and choices recognised and respected.
• Be treated fairly and not be discriminated against based on your age, gender, race, religious beliefs,
disability, sexual orientation, or other personal characteristics.
Participation
You have the right to:
• Be treated as an equal partner in your care and be involved in decisions about your treatment.
• Choose not to be involved in decision-making if that is what you prefer.
• Involve the people you want in planning and making decisions about your care. This could be a family member, carer, friend or a consumer advocate.
• Ask questions and be involved in open and honest communication.
Information
You have the right to:
• Receive a description of the proposed treatment, the risks, the acceptable alternative methods of treatment, including the risks and advantages of each, and the consequences of receiving no treatment, before giving informed consent to treatment.
• Receive information about services, waiting time and costs.
• Receive assistance, when you need it, to help you to understand and use health information.
• You also have the right to assistance with referrals to other service(s) to ensure appropriate ongoing care.
• Seek a second opinion.
Privacy
You have the right to:
• Confidentiality and privacy. Details concerning your care and treatment are confidential. No information or records pertaining to your care will be released without your permission, or the permission of your representative, unless such a release is required under legislation, by law or specified under contract.Rights and Responsibilities
Give Feedback
You have the right to:
• Provide feedback or make a complaint without it affecting the way that you are treated.
• Have your concerns addressed in a transparent and timely manner.
• Share your experience and participate in improving the quality of care.
4. Your Responsibilities
You have the responsibility to:
• Give accurate and complete information about matters that are relevant to the treatment you are seeking. This may include: personal or clinical history, medications or other treatments.
• Report changes in your condition to your clinician.
• Tell us if you do not understand a planned course of action or what is expected of you.
• Follow the treatment plan you have agreed to regarding your care.
• Keep appointments and notify us if unable to do so for any reason.
• Provide information to enable the payment for services.
• Behave in a lawful manner and contribute to a safe and comfortable environment.
• Accept the outcomes of your actions if you refuse treatment or do not follow instructions.
• Be respectful of the rights of other clients and staff.
• Be respectful of the property of other people and of our facility.
• Not take photographs, video or audio recordings of staff members, fellow clients, visitors, or our facility.
• Not post on social media photos, videos or information of/about other clients, staff or visitors of our facility.
5. References
Privacy Policy
Feedback Management Policy
Incident Management Procedure
6. Document Control
Revision History:
| Version No.: | Preceding Version: | Approved by: | Description of changes to preceding version |
| 1.0 | N/A | Executive | First issue. |
| Document Owner (role title): | Department owner: | Approval Date: | |
| Director of Strategy and Governance | Strategy and Governance | 20 March 2024 |
Next Review Date: April 2026
