You must support the person’s strengths, interests and rights when following the individualised plan. 

 

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Human rights

The person receiving support is entitled to have their rights upheld and respected. This means upholding their basic human rights, including their right to make choices about their own lives, their right to access food, shelter, warmth and the company of others and their right to a place in the community without discrimination. It also means the person has the right to make complaints.

People accessing services have the right to:

• dignity and respect 
• freedom of expression
• self-determination, choice and control
• confidentiality and privacy 
• freedom from discrimination, exploitation, abuse, harm, neglect and violence. 

Discrimination

Written into our basic human rights is the right to freedom from discrimination.

When implementing activities listed in a person’s plan, you must avoid any actions that could be discriminatory. You also need to be aware of and show respect for the person’s cultural and religious beliefs. You must consider these beliefs and the way they affect the tasks you carry out. 

For example:

• If a person belongs to a certain religion, they have the right to eat the foods that meet their religious needs. 
• If a person wishes to speak their native language, you cannot force them to speak English. 

Duty of care 

While aspects of WHS legislation may vary between states and territories, there are common legislative requirements and obligations under the duty of care principle. 

People who access aged care, home and community care and disability services have a right to receive services that respond to their needs and rights, even if that comes with an element of risk. In turn, support workers and coordinators have a duty of care to keep clients and residents safe. Everyone in the community service environment has a duty of care for themselves, the people they care for, visitors and each other. Negligence occurs when duty of care is breached and causes harm to the person.

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Dignity of risk 

Everyone has the right to make choices for themselves, even if you do not agree with those choices or they are not written in their plan. This is known as the dignity of risk. 

For example, an older person can refuse to take their medications or use their walking frame. However, the person’s dignity of risk must be balanced with your duty of care. This means that you are responsible for ensuring that:

• the person understands the consequences of their choices, such as feeling unwell if they do not take their medication
• the person is given the right information about that choice, such as talking to their general practitioner (GP) if they have diabetes but do not want to follow the diet that they have been recommended
• the risk that the person is taking does not affect anyone else. For example, the person does not have the right to smoke inside a facility because it can put others at risk. 

You must balance their duty of care with the person’s dignity of risk and you may need guidance about how this can be done. You must allow for a person’s right to dignity of risk while ensuring that you are acting within your job role. This may mean simply reporting a concern or problem. When determining types of support in consultation with the person, you must ensure that no activities are agreed to that a reasonable person would anticipate could cause harm.

Examples of ensuring the dignity of risk include:

• allowing a person to work in the garden and prune roses, even if you are worried that they might scratch themselves or fall 
• allowing a person to wander unrestricted but taking steps to reduce their chance of falling
• allowing a person who uses a wheelchair to go shopping alone, even if you worry that they might be an easy target for having their money stolen. 

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Privacy and confidentiality 

Maintaining privacy and confidentiality of the person’s information is part of respecting individual rights. It is also your legal responsibility. 

Any information that could identify a person must be kept confidential. This includes names, addresses and medical conditions. You do not necessarily have to use the person’s name to breach their confidentiality – the person’s condition or other attributes may provide enough information to be identifying. 

When you are talking to a person about their personal care needs, you must take care to do so in a place where others cannot overhear. This includes other workers, family members and friends who are not involved with the care or who do not need to know the information. 

In most cases, the person needs to give consent for their personal information to be shared and discussed with others, including people who are close to them.

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Select each bar to expand and reveal further information about privacy and disclosure. 

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Privacy and confidentiality include how information is collected, stored, accessed and released to other people. 

Select the items on the image to reveal examples of privacy policies and procedures. 

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Mandatory reporting 

Mandatory reporting requires certain professionals and people working in certain sectors to report suspected child sexual or other types of abuse to a government body or the police. 

Mandatory reporting is different than reporting internally to your supervisor. Because the legislation varies greatly across Australian states and territories, it is important to understand your own obligations. For example, in the Northern Territory, it is mandatory (required by law) for any adult who suspects any type of child abuse on reasonable grounds to report to the police or a relevant government body. In most other states, this law only applies to people working in certain job roles, such as teachers, doctors and nurses. 

However, even if in your job role you are not mandated by law to report cases of suspected or actual abuse or neglect of children, older people or people with a disability, you can still make a report to your supervisor, the police or a relevant government department in your state. 

 Watch the video 

Watch ‘Abuse in disability services’ to hear shocking revelations about the treatment of people with disabilities.

 Reflect 

How do investigations, such as those by the Royal Commission, help prevent neglect and abuse in our health system? 

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Report abuse in aged care 

Mandatory reporting of abuse and neglect is a legal requirement for managers in all aged care services. Your managers must report any unnecessary use of force or suspected or actual abuse to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC). This includes any claim of abuse, even if the person making the claim is an unreliable witness, such as if they have dementia. 

Under the Serious Incident Response Scheme, residential aged care managers must report any suspected or actual incidents of abuse to the police and to the ACQSC. 

If you have any reason to be concerned that a person is being abused:

1. Make sure the person is safe and protected.
2. Report your concerns immediately to your supervisor. You have the right to have your identity as a reporter kept confidential.
3. Avoid disrupting or touching the area surrounding the place where abuse may have happened because this may be considered a crime scene.
4. Document what you have seen or heard. 

Write down: 

• what you saw (e.g. size, location and type of bruising) 
• when you saw it (day, date, time) 
• what you did (e.g. removed the person from the situation)
• what you said (e.g. explained to the person that you had to report the incident)
• the person’s response (what they said or did). 

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