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Charter of Rights and Responsibilities for Community Care

Information sheet for people receiving care and services through Community Aged Care packages, Extended Aged Care at Home packages, Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia packages.

You may download this document in PDF format:

PDF printable version of Charter of Rights and Responsibilities for Community Care (PDF 79 KB)

Your rights and responsibilities are described in a document called ‘The Charter of Rights and Responsibilities for Community Care’.

Your rights

The Charter tells you that you have a number of rights including the right to:

• be treated with respect
• be involved in identifying the type of community care you will receive to meet your needs
• choose the care and services that best meet your assessed needs, from the community care available and within the limits of the resources available
• be given a copy of the Charter of Rights and Responsibilities for Community Care
• be offered a written agreement covering everything you and your service provider have agreed to
• be given information on how to make comments and/or complaints about the care and services you are receiving.

Your responsibilities

You also have responsibilities under the Charter. Service providers expect you to meet these responsibilities, including your need to:

• respect the rights of care workers
• provide enough information to help your service provider develop, deliver and review your care plan
• follow the terms and conditions of your written agreement
• pay the fees outlined in your written agreement.

Who is the Charter for?

The Charter is for you, your service provider and others involved in your care.

It applies to everyone receiving care or services through a Community Aged Care package, an Extended Aged Care at Home package or an Extended Aged Care at Home-Dementia package.

You should read the Charter all the way through and if you do not understand what it means or how it applies to you, ask your service provider or someone else to explain it to you.

In addition to yourself, these people also need to know about the Charter:

• your service provider
• your carer, who may be a family member, friend or neighbour who regularly provides support and care to you
• your authorised representative, who may be your legal guardian or someone that you have appointed under a Power of Attorney.

Where can I get a copy of the Charter?

You can get a copy of the Charter from:

• your service provider
• the Department of Health and Ageing website at: www.health.gov.au
• National Mailing and Marketing, the Department’s distribution house, by calling (02) 6269 1060.

This information sheet is for people receiving care and services through Community Aged Care packages, Extended Aged Care at Home packages, Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia packages.
All information in this document is correct as of May 2011

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