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Code of Health Rights and Responsibilities

As part of our role under the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006, we worked with healthcare consumers and providers to developed a draft Code of Health Rights and Responsibilities for consideration by the Minister for Health.

To help us develop the draft Code, public feedback was invited on an initial document between 5 December 2007 and 29 February 2008. More than 120 submissions were received, providing valuable suggestions for the further development of the draft Code. 

Respondents included healthcare consumers, carers, healthcare providers, government departments, professional bodies, peak organisations and community groups.

The feedback showed that respondents wanted a Code document that:

• was simple and understandable by all
• focused on the users of health services
• aligned with the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights (which was developed at the same time as the Code)
• balanced rights and responsibilities
• recognised people with impaired decision-making capacity
• acknowledged the carers and representatives of people who use health services
• noted the rights of health service providers as well as health service users.

A revised draft of the Code was prepared based on the feedback and, on 30 June 2008, the proposed content and application of the Code was provided in a report to the Minister for Health for his consideration.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this important project.  We appreciate your feedback.

The proposed content of the Code is based on 12 principles that align with the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights and the principles outlined in section 34 of the Act: