Your rights and responsibilities
These rights apply to all people in places where health care is provided in Australia. This includes public and private hospitals, day procedure services, general practice and other community health services.
For more information see HealthyWA: Your rights and responsibilities as a patient.
- Click above to view the 'The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights' video.
You have the right to:
- Access: You have the right to access care that meets your needs.
- Safety: You have the right to get safe healthcare.
- Respect: You have the right to get respect when you are at a health service.
- Partnership: You have the right to partner with your healthcare provider.
- Information: You have the right to get information about your health, see information about yourself, and to get help to understand your health.
- Informed consent: You must know the good and bad things that might happen to you from your test or treatment and you must say yes or no to having the test or treatment.
- Privacy: Healthcare providers must respect your privacy.
- Give feedback: You have the right to give feedback about what you think about the health service.
This charter is also available in 19 community languages.
How you can help
To help us provide you with the highest quality and safest care please:
- Tell us about your illnesses and hospital visits, symptoms, medications, allergies and other health related matters.
- Tell us about any religious or cultural beliefs and requirements.
- Treat all people you meet in the health service (staff, volunteers, patients, their families) with care, dignity and consideration.
- Ask questions and talk to your family before making any decisions about your health care, if relevant.
- Follow staff instructions regarding your treatment and care.
- Be on time for appointments and let your health service know if you need to cancel or reschedule, and notify us if your contact details change.
- Respect the confidentiality and privacy of others.
For more information see HealthyWA: Your rights and responsibilities as a patient.
Tell us about your experience
The sharing of both positive and negative patient and family experiences is an important learning and quality improvement opportunity. Hearing positive stories enables us to learn what we are doing well, but also contributes to a positive organisational culture. The capturing and analysing of negative experiences enables us to review existing systems and processes to facilitate change and reform.
The ultimate outcome from receiving feedback is the improvement of the quality and safety of our health service.
Information about how you can provide feedback is available on the consumer compliments and feedback page.
If you have concerns about your loved one in hospital, you can use CARE Call
If you are a patient and are worried about your health or if you’re concerned about the health of a person we are caring for and the healthcare team is not responding to your concerns, we encourage you to use our CARE Call process.
CARE Call is a three step process that empowers patients, families and carers to escalate care if they feel that their concerns have not been addressed.