work within a relevant legal and ethical framework 1

10/04/2023Nerrilyn Agius 1

CHCCS400C

Work within a Legal and

Ethical Framework


Element 1

Understanding legislation and relevant laws

1. Demonstrate an understanding of legal responsibilities and obligations in your work

2. Demonstrating an understanding of key statutory and regulatory requirements

3. Fulfilling your duty-of-care requirements

4. Accepting responsibility for your own actions

5. Maintaining confidentiality

6. Seeking the client’s agreement before providing services


As Community Service Workers we are required to understand how legislation and Common law affect us, our clients and our

workplace

Legislation outlines specific legal requirements that must be adhered to by

health and aged care organisations

Legislation relevant to staff and clients in the health, disability and aged care sector include;

Think how you adhere to these in your workplace!

Aged CareHome and community careHealth servicesDisability discrimination, disability servicesRacial DiscriminationEqual opportunityFreedom of informationPrivacyOccupational health and safety Building standardsDuty of care pharmaceutical benefitsPoisons and therapeutics'

AccessAccounts receivable DepreciationLiabilities Owners EquityRevenueExpenses Statement of Financial Position (Balance sheet)BudgetInvoicingPetty cash


Think of your job description what legal

responsibilities and obligations are you

required to consider!


Principle What it means

Collection You may only collect necessary personal information. You must advise individuals that they can gain access to this information

Use and disclosure

Personal information should only be used for the reason it was collected

Data quality Personal information must be accurate, complete and up to date.

Data security You must take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Openness You must be able to provide a policy on the management of personal information to anyone who asks

Access and correction

If an organisation has personal information about and individual. It must give the individual access to the information and allow them to correct it.

Unique identifies

An organisation must not use a unique identifier, such as a tax file number or its own identifier. A unique identifier is usually a number assigned to an individual to identify them for the purposes of an organisation’s operations

Anonymity Individuals should be given the option of not identifying themselves when entering into transactions with organisations provided it is lawful

Transborder data flows

Personal information may only be transferred to foreign countries if the same privacy protection applies or consent is given.

Sensitive information

The law restricts collection of sensitive information such as individual's ethnic, origin, political views, religious beliefs, sexual preferences membership of groups or criminal record.

Ten national privacy principles


Every day we do something quite naturally, we practice Duty of Care

It is everywhere, it is part of our lives

We have a duty of care not to expose ourselves, our clients, our co-workers and the general public to the risk of being

harmed.

Our employer has a duty of care to train us to our job


Duty of Care means a duty not to be careless or negligent by taking reasonable steps to avoid harm,

whilst at the same time taking into account sensible risk taking for

each individual


Duty of care is based on three sets of standards;

1.Community standards;

• the community by law must behave so as not to put at risk or harm anyone.

• Treat others with respect and dignity


2. Professional standards;

• Doctors, Lawyers, priests.• Not perfect behavior• Do require acceptable, reasonable and competent

levels of practice.

3. Agency standards

• Government standards required for finance• State what clients can expect from the service• Has a minimum set of standards to assist the agency

in service provision


Duty of care is sometimes thought of as only being related to physical safety, whereas it should actually be seen

in the context of all of the rights of people being supported by carers.


This means agencies are accountable to their clients and the funding bodies to provide the agreed standard of service.

Staff then are accountable to their:

• Clients

• Families

• Advocates

• Workplace

Breach of Duty of Care can result in a claim for negligence


For Negligence to exist four things need to be clearly demonstrated;

1.Staff owed a duty of care to a Client

2.Person taking action must be able to show that harm has occurred because of breach of duty of care

3.The person experienced actual harm or injury

4.The harm was reasonably foreseeable in the circumstances


As a community service professional you are responsible for your own actions.

You demonstrate this when you:

• are trustworthy in your dealings with others

• communicate and act in a truthful, transparent manner

• provide comprehensive and accurate information

• take responsibility for expressing a point of view

• acknowledge the results of your actions whether they were intended or not


Team work enables workers to share experiences, knowledge, information and

perspectives.

Key features of effective teams are:

Communication

Understanding of each others roles

Cooperate with each other

Accept responsibility for their actions

TrustTake corrective action

Resolve conflict constructively

Contribute to the goals and the values of the team

Recognise the diversity of individual team members


Confidentiality of clients and carers must be maintained at all times.

You may not think some information is important however your client might think

differently.

You are not the judge of their personal information


How would you safeguard your client’s information?

Keep personal information safe to prevent unauthorised access, loss, modification, disclosure or misuse.Ensure only authorised personnel have access to personal informationBe discreet when speaking on the telephoneNever discuss a client during your tea break or in publicNever give details about another person or their telephone numbers out over the phone without their prior permissionTake care not to discuss clients with anyone else unless it is in the client’s best interests.Take all reasonable steps when transmitting personal information by email or faxEnsure information that is no longer required is returned to the place of origin and disposed of in the correct manner


There is an ethical expectation that you will not reveal any sensitive or confidential

business information about the organisation you work for.

If your co-workers confide in you about a personal

matter respect their privacy.


Disclosure of information is permitted in some instances:

• Compelled by law

• A patient’s interests require disclosure

• There is a duty to the public

• The person has consented to the disclosure


Any written document, forms, emails or client records are

permanent and legal documents. For this reason you should be very particular in the way you record information in

your workplace


People are more responsive to care if they feel they have a choice about their day-to-day care needs. It

helps to preserve their dignity and self-esteem.

Everyone has a right to determine their own service options. There are legal and ethical reasons for

involving your client in decisions about the services they receive and to gain consent before any type of

care is given.


If the client is unable to give consent you may need to use:

• An advocate who will speak up on behalf of the cliento this could be the coordinatoro an appointed advocate

• A Guardian has the duty too protect the rights, welfare and best interest of the cliento encourage the client to live as normal a life as possibleo consider the views of the cliento preserve and recognise the cultural and linguistic needs of the

cliento protect the client from abuse, neglect and exploitation

• Power of attorney is a legal document that appoints someone to act on behalf of someone else in matters of money, property or medical treatment.

work within a relevant legal and ethical framework 1

Health & Medicine