1.       Access references (e.g. online, source documents) about the legal and ethical frameworks relevant to aged care services.

Complete the table for each of the following:

a.      Specify the legislation that applies to the given framework.

b.      Specify the code of ethics that applies to the given framework, including the title of your reference

Guidance: Indicate what the service provider, including support workers, must do as stated in the code, in relation to the framework, e.g.:

c.      Briefly explain how each framework is applied in the workplace.

Guidance: You may refer to the legislation and code of ethics that apply in your state/territory.

State/Territory:

Victoria

Legal and ethical framework

Legislation

Code of Ethics

Application in the workplace

Children in the workplace

The national framework for protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020 is created for the implementation of strategies to get effective outcome from children development process.

This framework has been created by the Australian government by flowing the WHS act (2011) to protect children from working activities.

Under a workplace condition an organisation is liable to secure the workplace so that a child does not harm by any activities or reasons.

Reference: (Safeworkaustralia.gov.au, 2018)

Codes of conduct

The national Code of Conduct is formed to protect public by setting a limitation of standards for unregistered health care practitioners. 

According to the codes of ethics of the framework, a support workers is accountable maintain a standard for the provision of services. 

To implement this in a workplace condition a health care support worker should help patients or an individual with safe environment and work in an ethical manner.

Reference: (Coaghealthcouncil.gov.au, 2018)

Codes of practice

The mental health act (2014) is settled out for providing information to patient treated with mental health issues.  

The information about a patient should be only given to the person’s families or carers.

This is possible to apply in workplace for protecting mentally ill people and providing right information to the person’s family, carer and friends.

Reference:      

Complaints management

The Privacy Act (1998) is established by the Australian government to make efficient management or handling of each and every persons’ complaints.  

A support worker should get proper assistance from the authority to help a person in complain solving procedures.

An organisation can implement a process or platform for gaining complain from customers.

Reference: (Oaic.gov.au, 2018)

Continuing professional education

The AHPRA or Australian health Practitioner regulation agency is created by the government to continue with the process of professional development of support workers.

This has been done by the Australian government as a part of their initiative to support educations to them.  

An educational institute or organisation can implement or arrange CPD for providing a chance to development to support workers.  

Reference: (caresearch.com.au, 2018)

Discrimination

The Australian human rights commission has been implemented several laws like the age Discrimination act (2004), the racial discrimination act (1975), sex discrimination act (1984) for avoiding situation of discrimination and protecting employees from a workplace risks.       

This laws has been applied to protect employees from workplace risks. 

By using the rules and regulations of these acts an organisation can able to avoid the situations of workplace discrimination. 

Reference: (humanrights.gov.au, 2018)

Dignity of risk

This is about providing freedom to patients by considering the Victorian Charter of human Rights and Responsibilities.

A support worker should provide scope for making a choices of decision. 

This is possible to implement in an organisation for providing assistance to workers to make choices.

Reference: (Humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au, 2018)

Duty of care

According to the duty of care a support worker is liable to provide assistance in case of emergency situation to a patient. 

In case of an injury a person should provide proper assistance to reduces the injury occurrences. 

This is possible to implement in an organisation to reduce the rate of injury.

Reference: (Health.gov.au, 2018)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Australian government implemented the Universal declaration of Human Rights by considering the United Nations proposal for protection of basic human needs.

This should be maintained by a person for providing equal rights to everyone. 

This is possible to implement in an organisation to avoid the occurrences of discrimination. 

Reference: (Humanrights.gov.au, 2018)

Informed consent

This has been implemented by the Australian government by considering the privacy act (1998) of Australia.

This is about gaining permission of a person before giving information to other person. 

This should be applied for protecting information of workers in an organisation.

Reference: (Betterhealth.vic.gov.au, 2018)

Mandatory reporting

According to the education act (1990), a support worker must be reported to the authority in case of negligence has been found.

This is required to inform to the responsible authority in quick time by a support worker.

This is possible to apply in an organisation for providing safety to the workers. 

Reference: (Aifs.gov.au, 2018)

Practice standards

The AASW code of ethics is created for the purpose of maintain a quality standards in support workers working roles. 

Ethical value, professionalism, knowledge about works are some of code of ethics for practice standards. 

This is possible to apply for maintain a quality working process in an organisation.

Reference: (aasw.asn.au, 2018)

Practitioner/client boundaries

A practitioner is not able to make involvement in a patient’s personal life.  

Ant sort information about patient should not be leaked and given to other persons. 

This is needed to implement for protecting client’s information.

Reference: (Health.gov.au, 2018)

Privacy, confidentiality and closure

The privacy act (19998) is introduced by the government for protection client’s information.  

Before the disclosing of information a person should ask the client first.

This is required to apply for the protection of workers information in a workplace.

Reference: (Oaic.gov.au, 2018)

Policy frameworks

The mental health policy frameworks is introduced for specify the legal and best practice of workers.

According to the framework, a support is required secure legal requirements of a client.

This is possible to implement by an organisation for providing better quality support to clients.  

Reference: (Health.wa.gov.au, 2018)

Records management

This process is complied with the privacy act (1998) which is about securing clients data and information.

This is required to protect in a secure manner for the safety of client.

A client can able to implement this for securing their employees information. 

Reference: (Oaic.gov.au, 2018)

Work role boundaries

This is about a support workers working on the basis of knowledge and training about a working role.

For this purpose a support workers should ask to the supervisor always.

This can assist an organisation to get effective support from a support worker.

Reference: (Health.gov.au, 2018)

Work health and safety

The WHS Act (2011) has been formulated for the protection of workers safety and health.

Safety from risky condition, hazards and avoidance of discrimination are some of the basic ethical consideration of work health and safety.

This is required to implement by an organisation to protect their staffs security and health.

Reference: (Worksafe.qld.gov.au, 2018)

2.      Refer to the Aged Care Award.

Guidance: To open attached document above, right click on icon and select ‘Acrobat Document Object’ then ‘Open’

Complete the table below by supplying the information of each requirement specified. Use your own words where information requires description.

Requirements

Information

Maximum work hours for full-time employees

Weekly work hours:

76 Hours

Ordinary hours of work:

38 Hours

Levels of classification for aged care employees (in relation to minimum weekly wages), as per the Aged Care Award 2010 Pay

§  $715.20 per week

§  $744.80 per week

§  $774.10 per week

§  $783.30 per week

§  $809.70 per week

§  $853.30 per week

§  $868.70 per week

Community service leave

This provided for the NES.

3.      Provide three (3) reporting requirements that approved providers of residential aged care services must adhere to for reporting reportable assaults under the Aged Care Act 1997.

Reporting to the police and responsible department under the 24 hours’ time period following the incident of allegation.

     ii.                 

Assurance of staff members reporting to the police in case of a suspicious allegation.

   iii.                 

Protection of the reporting staff members from a situation of a victimisation. 

4.      Research online and provide the guidelines for reporting suspected abuse of older persons that apply in your state or territory.

Your responses must include the following:

§  Person/s to whom the report will be made

§  Details that must be provided in the report

State/Territory:

Victoria

Guidelines for reporting:

Add more bullet points as necessary.

§  It should be immediately informed to the most senior staff on the time of duty.

§  This report is required to submit to the health department of Australia too.

§  The report should include the entire incidence of abuse in the workplace. 

§  A person should include the situation of assaults in the report.

5.      In your own words, describe the importance of having plain English versions of legislation in aged care services.

The main aged care legislation of Australia is Aged Care Act (1997), which explains the laws by legal jargons, which if, explained in the plain English would be better for the aged care services to understand. In plain English, the main purpose of the legislation, which is the Aged Care Act (1997) says that the complaints about aged care services should be resolved immediately (Connolly & Broad, 2014). Moreover, the aged care services should educate the people on the methods of resolving the issues and the methods of handling the complaints of the clients. Along with that, the minister must be informed in connection with the functions of the Complaints Commissioner, if it is absolutely required.

6.      The Queensland Council of Social Service (QCOSS) has developed policy templates and guidelines to assist community services organisations in implementing the standards set in the Human Services Quality Framework (HSQF).

a.      Identify three (3) standards in the HSQF.

b.      Provide two (2) policy templates which organisations can use for each of the standards in the HSQF you identified.

A sample answer has been provided for your reference.

Standards in the HSQF

Two (2) policy templates

Sample answer:

Standard 1: Governance and management

§  Election of governing body template

§  Training and development of governing body template

Standard 2: Responding to individual need

§  Training the staff about patient-centric care

§  Building rapport with the patients for understanding their needs (Bernoth & Dietsch, 2014).

Standard 3: Feedback, Complaints and Appeals

§  Taking feedback from the clients and their families on a regular basis (Connolly & Broad, 2014).

§  Considering the complaints and appeals from the clients on a serious note and taking appropriate action.

7.      Briefly discuss how policies and procedures are used to manage legal compliance and ethical practice in:

a.      Workplace practice

b.      Service delivery to clients

Guidance: Your discussion must be 50 – 100 words in length

a.      Workplace practice

Workplace practice related to legal compliance and ethical practices are managed based on the Work Health and Safety Act (2011) where every individual are responsible for their own safety, and communicate about the hazards to other employees as well as clients (Bernoth & Dietsch, 2014). The staff are trained during their service that they should always communicate the potential hazards to the management so that necessary steps can be taken for ensuring the right standard of care.

b.      Service delivery to clients

The service delivery to clients can be done by the help of maintaining the standards of National Standards for Disability where the minimum standards are maintained by following patient-centric procedure, and directly taking feedback from the patients who are disabled (Bernoth & Dietsch, 2014). The legal steps can be taken if the minimum standards of disability are not maintained when the complaints are made to the National Standards for Disability board.

8.     Briefly discuss what each of the following organisations do for the aged care industry.

Guidance: Your discussion must be 50 – 100 words in length

Organisation

What they do

Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA)

Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) is the main body that supports 700 churches, community based and charitable non-profit organizations that provides care service and accommodation to 450,000 aged Australians (Bernoth & Dietsch, 2014).

Aged Care Sector Committee

The Aged Care Sector Committee gives advice to the government on the policy of aged care, and its implementation and development. The committee also takes action by the help of consultation and mechanism for consulting with the Australian Government as well as the sector of aged care (Connolly & Broad, 2014). The committee members also consult with the individual consultancies and membership for ensuring that the views of stakeholders inform in the process of policy development.

Leading Age Services Australia

The leading age services Australia (LASA) is a nationwide grand body that supports and represents the age service providers throughout the home care, residential care, and the retirement living.

My Aged Care

My Aged Care consists of the major entering point about the system of aged care within Australia (Baldwin & Chenoweth, 2015). The main function of this organization is making the process of care easier for the aged people, and their families.

This part of the RPL Kit requires you to provide evidence from the workplace.  The evidence could be from your current workplace or one that you have recently been involved in however it must be in the aged care sector whilst performing the role of aged care support worker.

You may need to obtain permission from your workplace supervisor to be able to submit the documents requested.  Please also ensure that you maintain confidentiality and remove or cross out any identifying names etc. on the documentation.

This documentation is to demonstrate that you contribute research information about compliance and ethical practice responsibilities and then develop and monitor policies and procedures to meet those responsibilities.

This unit of competency requires you to provide evidence of completing the following:

1.       Contributing to managing legal and ethical compliance

2.      Developing policies and procedures for a workplace/business

3.      Demonstrating your problem solving abilities in legal and ethical situations

This unit also requires the candidate to provide evidence of the completion of the following :

·         determined the scope of legal and ethical compliance requirements and responsibilities, and developed policies and procedures for at least 1 workplace or business

·         developed a strategic response to at least 3 different situations where legal or ethical requirements have been breached

1.      Contributing to managing legal and ethical compliance

a) Researching information required for legal compliance

Provide details of a time when you have been required to research and provide information to someone in the workplace in regards to legal compliance.  For example, perhaps you have trained a new employee in their job responsibilities relating to legislation or workplace policies and procedures where you have needed to research the details and then shared the information either individually or in a meeting.  Your report must include full details including the legislation and areas of compliance.  Please ask your workplace supervisor to sign your report stating that you were involved in researching information for legal compliance.

Please save and submit the document to your assessor using the filename:  Legal&Ethical-1aCompliance

[Last Name, First Name]_Legal&Ethical – 1aCompliance

b) Accessing and interpreting information relevant to area of work

Provide evidence of how you access and interpret information relevant to your area of work.  This evidence may include: – your signed job description/contract, a copy of the index page of the organisations policies and procedures, minutes of meetings where information about the job role has been discussed or a website or article where you access information relevant to your work.  Provide at least three (3) different pieces of evidence.

Please save and submit the document to your assessor using the filename:  Legal&Ethical -1bCompliance

[Last Name, First Name]_Legal&Ethical – 1bCompliance

c) Determining ethical responsibilities

Collect workplace evidence/documents in regards to a time when you needed to make a decision based on ethical grounds.  This could be a written report, minutes of a meeting, detailed letter signed by your workplace supervisor or any other suitable evidence.  The information needs to explain the decision to be made, why it involved an ethical decision, the steps taken in determining your ethical responsibilities and the outcome of the decision made.

Please save and submit the document to your assessor using the filename:  Legal&Ethical -1cCompliance

[Last Name, First Name]_Legal&Ethical – 1cCompliance

d) Monitoring compliance

The evidence for this section could include a report from an internal/external audit that showed that you were involved in the audit.  Meeting agenda and minutes where you facilitated a discussion about compliance in the workplace could also be used.  Any other evidence that shows how you monitor compliance (internal/external requirements) within the workplace can be submitted.  Please provide at least two (2) types of evidence as to how you monitor compliance.

Please save and submit the document to your assessor using the filename:  Legal&Ethical-1dCompliance

[Last Name, First Name]_Legal&Ethical – 1dCompliance

e) Maintaining knowledge of compliance requirements

Submit a copy of a meeting agenda and meeting minutes from within your organisation where compliance requirements were discussed.  Make sure your name is on the attendee list and discussions are documented.  Another form of evidence for this point would be to provide a flyer/information from an external training session/meeting that you attended in regards to compliance requirements.  This is to demonstrate how you maintain your knowledge of compliance requirements.

Please save and submit the document to your assessor using the filename:  Legal&Ethical -1eCompliance

[Last Name, First Name]_Legal&Ethical – 1eCompliance

2.     Developing policies and procedures for a workplace/business

·         Development of at least one policy and procedure for at least 1 workplace or business

This unit requires you to have developed at least one policy and procedure.  Please provide evidence of this development including information about – the planning, draft of the policy/procedure, finalised and approved policy/procedure, minutes of meetings held.  It is acceptable to have been part of a group who developed the policy/procedure but evidence must confirm that you were involved in every aspect of the development.

Please save and submit the documents to your assessor using the filename:  Legal&Ethical – 2Developing P&P

[Last Name, First Name]_Legal&Ethical – 2Developing P&P

3.     Demonstrating your problem solving abilities in legal and ethical situations

·         Evidence of development of a strategic response to at least 3 different situations where legal or ethical requirements have been breached

The training package requires participants to provide full evidence/details of the above.

It is recognised that each of the three (3) situations may have required a different response.  Therefore, please supply the required documentation and evidence relating to each situation.  This evidence must provide details of the situation faced, how a legal or ethical breach was identified, the steps used to develop a response, the strategic response implemented and the outcome of that response or further action required.  Please save the evidence for each situation separately as indicated below.

You may use the situation in 1(c) above but please ensure the documentation is also uploaded here with any additional information required.

Please save and submit the documents to your assessor using the filename:  Legal&Ethical – 3aLegal & Ethical[Last Name, First Name]_Legal&Ethical – 3aLegal & Ethical

Please save and submit the documents to your assessor using the filename:  Legal&Ethical –3bLegal & Ethical

[Last Name, First Name]_Legal&Ethical – 3bLegal & Ethical

Please save and submit the documents to your assessor using the filename:  Legal&Ethical –3c Legal & Ethical

[Last Name, First Name]_Legal&Ethical – 3cLegal & Ethical