Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry Report (November 13, 2019)
On November 13, 2019 The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights released a report following their inquiry into the Quality of Care Amendment (Minimising the Use of Restraints) Principles 2019.
This report is encouraging and provides minimum but comprehensive recommendations about the legislation including:
– the instrument be amended to include clarification around other laws that prohibit the use of both physical and chemical restraint without prior informed consent;
– continued obligations for prescribers to exhaust alternative options and obtain informed consent prior to the use of chemical restraint;
– obligations of providers to obtain or confirm informed consent prior to the administration of chemical restraint;
– improved oversight of the use of restraint in aged care and mandatory reporting requirements for the use of restraint
Hopefully these recommendations will be taken up.
