Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights

Page content: Overview | Guiding principles | What can I expect from the Victorian health system?

Overview

Following is the text of the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights. The Victorian government has produced a healthcare rights brochure for Victorian healthcare services to use with patients and consumers, using specific, easy-to-understand examples of each of the seven rights in the national charter, extending on the resources produced by the Commission. It is available as a free printed brochure, in Braille (order form), as an audio file and as documents in English and 25 community languages.

The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights describes the rights of patients and other people using the Australian health system. These rights are essential to make sure that, wherever and whenever care is provided, it is of high quality and is safe.

The Charter recognises that people receiving care and people providing care all have important parts to play in achieving healthcare rights. The Charter allows patients, consumers, families, carers and services providing health care to share an understanding of the rights of people receiving health care. This helps everyone to work together towards a safe and high quality health system. A genuine partnership between patients, consumers and providers is important so that everyone achieves the best possible outcomes.

Guiding principles

These principles describe how this Charter applies in the Australian health system.

1. Everyone has the right to be able to access health care and this right is essential for the Charter to be meaningful.
2. The Australian government commits to international agreements about human rights that recognise everyone’s right to have the highest possible standard of physical and mental health.
3. Australia is a society made up of people with different cultures and ways of life, and the Charter acknowledges and respects these differences.

What can I expect from the Victorian health system?

top of page