Client charter of rights & responsibilities
B Miles Women’s Foundation is committed to working with you in a respectful way that protects your dignity, is fair, and does not discriminate.
- You will be treated in a professional, courteous, and caring manner that respects and appreciates differences related to race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, religion, disability and age.
- Your personal privacy will be respected. The personal and health information we hold about you will be handled in accordance with relevant laws. We will explain what this means when you access our services and programs.
- You have the right to use our service if you meet the eligibility criteria and if our service matches your needs and what we are funded to provide.
- We will work in partnership with you to identify your needs and to develop a plan with you and other agencies to meet your needs.
- You have the right to put forward a complaint and we will respond in a confidential, respectful, and timely way.
- We will inform you of your rights and responsibilities when you receive our services.
- Service users will have representation in the decision-making processes of the organisation.
- We will provide you with information about the services that might be available to you so that you can make informed decisions about your options.
- We aim for you to feel safe. We have systems in place to ensure protection from harm.
- You can expect our service to meet health and safety standards.
- We will regularly ask for your opinions and will seek suggestions on the services we offer.
As a client of B Miles Women’s Foundation you have a responsibility to:
- Be respectful of others, including staff and other clients.
- Be respectful of B Miles Women’s Foundation property.
- Be an active participant in your service.
- Participate in a clinical treatment plan to support your mental health and wellbeing.
- Provide consent for your B Miles Case Manager to have contact with your clinicians to ensure that you are being supported in your recovery.
- Accept reasonable offers of accommodation or housing.
- Not have blanket exclusions in relation to housing providers.
- Participate in the service in a fit state (not under the influence of drugs or alcohol).
- Maintain confidentiality regarding information about other clients in the program.
- Provide accurate information about yourself in order to receive appropriate service.
- Ensure the safety of yourself and others by following staff direction in relation to health and safety.
Privacy & confidentiality
You will need to tell us about yourself so that we can support you in a way that meets your unique needs and circumstances. If there’s a need for us to collect or share your personal or health information with others, we will ask you for your permission first.
We will keep your personal and health information confidential and secure within our organisation, except in situations when (1) there is an emergency and failure to disclose information would place you or another person at serious and imminent risk, or (2) we are required to disclose information by law e.g. your information is requested by a court. In these situations, we will be committed to protecting your information as much as possible.
What we do with your information
- Your information will help our staff provide to you with the right care, support and treatment, including accommodation, health, housing services and referrals.
- De-identified information will be used for management and reporting purposes in line with our obligations and agreements with the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.
- Your information will be held securely and protected from unauthorised access, loss or misuse. We dispose of all hard copy records in a secure manner after seven years.
Your rights concerning your personal and health information
- You can request access to information by contacting our CEO. Access will be provided except where the law or broader public interest requires otherwise.
- You can ask us to correct information in certain circumstances (for example where information is incorrect or incomplete).
- If you have concerns about the way your information is handled you can provide feedback, make a complaint, or seek an external review of our conduct.