Statement of Rights & Responsibilities

Page content: Overview | Rights & Responsibilities Statement

Overview

The HACC Program Statement of Rights and Responsibilities aims to ensure that consumers and agencies are aware of their rights and responsibilities and can be confident in exercising them.

The need to promote respect for the rights of consumers of HACC services in this way arises from the nature of their relationship with providers.

HACC consumers rely significantly on the services provided by HACC to maintain their ability to live in the community. The nature of this relationship imposes obligations on providers and requires that services are responsive to the changing needs of each individual.

Providers must also engage individual clients when determining the support to be provided. This is crucial to the creation of an environment in which clients can be confident in exercising their rights and responsibilities.

For the complete HACC Program Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, refer to the information below.

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Rights & Responsibilities Statement

Rationale for Rights and Responsibilities Statement

The HACC Program Statement of Rights and Responsibilities aims to ensure that consumers and agencies are aware of their rights and responsibilities and can be confident in exercising them.

The need to promote respect for the rights of consumers of HACC services in this way arises from the nature of their relationship with providers.

HACC consumers rely significantly on the services provided by HACC to maintain their ability to live in the community. The nature of this relationship imposes obligations on providers and requires that services are responsive to the changing needs of each individual.

Providers must also involve each individual when determining the support to be provided. This is crucial to the creation of an environment in which consumers can be confident in exercising their rights and responsibilities.

Preamble to statement of rights and responsibilities

Frail elderly people and younger people with disabilities and their carers make up the HACC target group.

In this statement, any reference to the consumer is intended to apply equally to all members of the target group. In some instances, it has been necessary to make a distinction between the groups to emphasise their particular needs or to make the intention of the statement clear.

The HACC Program Statement of Rights and Responsibilities recognises that:

• The program assists people who are at risk of premature or inappropriate long-term residential care and their carers.
• The program aims to enhance the quality of life and independence of those at risk people and their carers.
• The program is administered within available resources and in accordance with the principles and goals set out in the HACC agreements.
• Consumers of HACC funded services retain their status as members of Australian society and enjoy the rights and responsibilities consistent with this status
• Providers of HACC services operate under the constraints of relevant law.

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Consumer rights

HACC consumers’ key rights within the HACC Program are:

• The right to respect for their individual human worth and dignity.
• The right to be treated with courtesy.
• The right to be assessed for access to services without discrimination.
• The right to be informed and consulted about available services and other relevant matters.
• The right to be part of decisions made about their care.
• The right to choose from available alternatives.
• The right to pursue any complaint about service provision without retribution.
• The right to involve an advocate of their choice.
• The right to receive good quality services.
• The right to privacy and confidentiality, and access to all personal information kept about the consumer.

Consumer responsibilities

Consistent with their status as members of Australian society, consumers of HACC services have a responsibility:

• To respect the human worth and dignity of the service provider staff and other consumers.
• To treat service provider staff and other consumers with courtesy.
• For the results of any decisions they make.
• To play their part in helping the service provider to provide them with services.
• To provide a safe work environment for staff and help them to provide consumers with services safely.

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Service provider responsibilities

In providing services, service providers have a responsibility:

• To enhance and respect the independence and dignity of the consumer.
• To ensure that the consumer’s access to a service is decided only on the basis of need and the capacity of the service to meet that need.
• To inform consumers about options for HACC Program support.
• To inform consumers of their rights and responsibilities in relation to HACC services.
• To involve the consumer and carer in decisions on the assessment and service delivery plan.
• To negotiate with the consumer before a change is made to the service being provided.
• To be responsive to the diverse social, cultural and physical experiences and needs of consumers.
• To recognise the role of carers and be responsive to their need for support.
• To inform the consumer about the service to be delivered and any fees charged.
• To inform the consumer of the standards to expect in relation to services they may receive.
• To ensure that the consumer continues to receive services agreed with the provider, taking the consumer’s changing needs into account.
• To respect the privacy and confidentiality of the consumer.
• To allow the consumer access to information held by the service provider.
• To allow the carer access to information held by the provider about the consumer where the carer is the legal guardian or has been so authorised by the consumer.
• To deliver services to the consumer in a safe manner.
• To respect a consumer’s refusal of a service and to ensure any future attempt by the consumer to access a HACC service is not prejudiced because of that refusal.
• To deal with consumer’s complaints fairly and promptly and without retribution.
• To mediate and attempt to negotiate a solution if conflict arises between the carer and the elderly person or younger person with a disability.
• To accept the consumer’s choice and involvement of an advocate to represent his or her interests.
• To take into account the consumer’s views when planning, managing and evaluating service provision.

This policy provides the framework for a complaints policy and procedures in the HACC Program and is based on both service provider agencies and administering government departments having policies and procedures in place to inform consumers of their right to complain, and to resolve any complaints received. Agencies should ensure that their own specific policies and procedures for handling complaints are consistent with the framework outlined in this policy.

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