Do you know:
- your health care rights rights in Australia?
- That we have Australian Charter of Health Care Rights?
A charter of rights is
- a list of all the human rights
- the country thinks that are important
- for everyone
What does the Australian Charter of Rights do?
- It says the rights for both
- patients
- carers of patients
- it explains what health care needs to be like
It covers
- all people in Australia
- all places in Australia
- public hospitals
- day procedure services
- general practices
- other community health services
So what are your health care rights?
Access – I have a right to:
- health care and treatments
- that meet my need
Safety – I have a right to:
- get safe and high quality health care
- in a setting that makes me feel safe
Respect – I have a right to:
- Be treated with respect
- have my culture, identity, beliefs and choices recognised.
Partnership – I have a right to:
- ask questions
- be included in honest communication
- make decisions with my health care staff
- include the people I want in planning and decisions
Information – I have a right to:
- clear information about my condition
- information about services, waiting times and costs
I have a right to be given help to:
- help me to understand my health
- be told if something has gone wrong
Privacy – I have a right to:
- have my privacy respected
- have information kept safe and confidential
You can find the Easy Read Charter on this link:
We are working on a GeneEQUAL project
- you can read about it in our other blogs
In GeneEQUAL we learn about
- experiences of people with intellectual disabilities
- with health care
Here is what we heard
- about health care rights in Australia
Health care workers sometimes
- do not speak directly to a person with an intellectual disability
- do not spend enough time to get to know the patient
- rush appointments
- use negative language about disability
- do not know that people have often had trauma
What needs to happen?
Health care workers need to
- use positive words about disability
- for example ‘condition’ is better than ‘disorder’
- explain things in simple words and pictures
- use Easy Read when explaining things
- talk slowly
- know different ways to communicate
- have more ongoing professional training – to support people with intellectual disabilities the best way
This will help to make the Charter reality!
You can learn about the Charter here:
Write to us if you want to know more about our work
julie@sasinc.com.au
i.strnadova@unsw.edu.au