Service User's Rights and Responsibilities

It is your right and responsibility, and that of your family should you wish to involve them, to decide the way in which you are assisted.

We acknowledge your right to expect and receive services that are provided with dignity, courtesy and respect at all times. That is why we have developed The Centre for Cerebral Palsy Charter.

The Centre for Cerebral Palsy Service User's Charter

As a Service user at The Centre for Cerebral Palsy you have the right to:

1. Receive services that improve your quality of life by encouraging independence, maintaining dignity and self-respect, and assisting you to remain or become a valued member of the community.
2. Expect and receive unobtrusive services that are based on your needs rather than those of The Centre, and are provided by trained and supervised staff.
3. Take part in the continuous assessment of your individual service plans and make decisions abut your needs and how we plan to address them.
4. Inquire and be told about all aspects of the care and treatment that The Centre proposes for you, and to be consulted before changes are made to the services you access or the staff attending to your care - particularly when there is a possibility that services may be postponed or discontinued.
5. Suggest changes to services and/or the people that provide them, and to express grievances freely, easily and in confidence.
6. Receive instruction to enable you, or a family member, carer or advocate, to provide for your particular needs.
7. Expect The Centre to keep all information and records confidential, unless law requires it or consent is given for them to be released to a third party.
8. Request all appropriate polices and/or documentation from The Centre for Cerebral Palsy that are relevant to the services you receive in alternative formats such as Compic, Braille and audio.
9. Decline any service.
10. Have your referral or request for services attended to with a minimum delay.
11. Raise any complaint or concerns that you may have about any matters related to the services you receive from The Centre freely, easily and in confidence. You also have the right to have these concerns investigated and resolved fairly and quickly.
12. Nominate an advocate of your choice to represent you and be included in any discussion or decision made about meeting your needs.
13. Live your life with dignity, with whom you choose, in the place of your choice, and in accordance with your religious and cultural beliefs.
14. Expect and receive services from The Centre without discrimination on the grounds of age, gender, race, religion, illness, ethnicity, disability or financial status.

1. Attending scheduled appointments once you are accepted by a program. If you are unable to attend, we ask that you give us at least 24 hours notice. If you are consistently unable to attend appointments, individual programs may explore other options for meeting your service needs.
2. Honouring agreements made with staff as part of a program. If agreements are broken it may result in termination from a program.
3. Taking advantage of opportunities to provide feedback to The Centre on the development and updating of services. There are a number of ways that you can provide input including:
   1. Telling us if you have any comments or concerns about the services we provide;
   2. Nominating for participation on the Board of Directors or Centre Committees and Advisory Forums; and
   3. Responding to surveys regarding our services.
4. Following up on comments or complaints made to staff when you are not satisfied with the outcome or response. There are a number of ways that you can do this including:
   1. Using the Consumer Grievance Procedure - any staff member can help you with this;
   2. Contacting People with Disabilities (WA) Inc, who offer independent information and advocacy services - telephone (08) 9386 6477, toll-free 1800 193 331 or TTY (08) 9386 6451;
   3. Contacting the Office of Health Review, who are empowered by legislation to investigate and deal with complaints about health care providers - telephone (08) 9426 0100, toll-free 1800 813 583.

• Advocare (08) 9221 8599, toll-free 1800 655 566
• Ethnic Disability Advocacy Centre (08) 9221 9921
• Citizen Advocacy WA (08) 9322 5999
• Citizen Advocacy South Metro (08) 9356 2814
• Citizen Advocacy Eastern Suburbs (08) 9274 7443
• Citizen Advocacy Southwest, Bunbury, (08) 9791 3293