Q. Where can I get hard copies of With Respect to Age - 2009 Victorian Government practice guidelines for health services and community agencies for the prevention of elder abuse?
A. Hard copies of
With Respect to Age - 2009 Victorian Government practice guidelines for health services and community agencies for the prevention of elder abuse may be ordered at any time from the Department of Human Services appointed distribution centre, Warehousing Fulfilment Distribution Solutions (WFDS), via email to:
Laura Tavian: ltavian@wfds.com.au
Copies will be distributed from early July 2009
Q. Where can I get electronic copies of With Respect to Age - 2009 Victorian Government practice guidelines for health services and community agencies for the prevention of elder abuse ?
A. The guide is available to download in PDF format, from early July 2009, at
www.health.vic.gov.au/agedcare/policy/index.htm
Q. Are the PowerPoint slides from the Information Sessions available to download?
A. The PowerPoint presentation slides are available to download
here.
Q. Where can I find further information regarding Elder Abuse Prevention?
A. A flyer detailing how to obtain information regarding Elder Abuse Prevention is available to download
here.
Responses to these general questions have been provided by the Victorian Department of Health, Aged Care Branch in response to participants’ enquires from the Information sessions conducted by AHA during July – September 2009.
Q. How soon will DHS schedule professional development in this field?
A. The development and delivery of elder abuse prevention professional education material is currently being developed, as part of the Victorian Government elder abuse prevention strategy.
The responsibility for the development of this initiative rests with the Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD), Office of Senior Victorians (OSV) and the Department of Human Services.
An initial scoping project has been completed involving multiple sectors and disciplines to ascertain knowledge, skill levels as well as what those sectors might see as useful learning tools.
OSV is currently finalising a professional education elder abuse prevention tender which they intend to advertise shortly. Progress and timelines will be clearer once the tender process is underway.
Q. Are psychologists to be informed and included in the Victorian Elder Abuse Prevention Strategy?
A. Psychologists work with older people, families and members of the community in a broad range of settings for a variety reasons, so are certainly included in the scope of this strategy.
Q. Are ECCV prepared for their suggested role in supporting staff, particularly in rural areas, to work with clients from diverse backgrounds?
A. Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV) ensures Victoria’s ethnic communities, particularly their older people are supported, included in consultations and provided with accessible information.
With regard to elder abuse prevention, ECCV could be contacted by health services or community agencies who seek a greater understanding of a particular cultural and/or language.
ECCV will endeavour to link the elder abuse prevention request to an organisation or individual with the ethnic or multicultural expertise particular to the presenting case.
ECCV provides a range of web based resources developed in partnership with Victorian and Australian Government representatives, peak bodies and ethno-specific welfare agencies and multicultural organisations, these include:
- Two Victorian Government Elder Abuse Prevention strategy factsheets supplied by the Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD), translated into 14 languages:
- A Seniors Factsheet May 2009: Elder Abuse – together we can prevent it and
- A general Factsheet May 2009: What is elder Abuse?
- PowerPoint presentations, speeches and reports of ECCV forums on elder abuse prevention and awareness in the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) groups.
- A Discussion Paper entitled Reclaiming Respect and Dignity: Elder Abuse Prevention in Ethnic Communities
- Golden Years Issue #97 featuring the theme Elder Abuse Prevention and Awareness in Multicultural Communities
Refer
www.eccv.org.au and click on Aged Care in the left column.
In addition, the ECCV Multicultural Aged Care Directory 2009 is a useful resource providing names of some ethnic welfare agencies and multicultural groups that may assist with understanding specific cultures and languages in relation to older people. The order form is available on the ECCV website.
Q. When does duty of care override clients right for privacy?
A. Reference and discussion around duty of care overriding a client’s right to privacy occurs in a number of places in the new practice guide With respect to age - 2009,as the concept of empowerment of the older person is applied. Refer to the following:
- Duty of Care and when it overrides a client’s right to privacy can be found in page 36, Section 3.2.3 Documentation, confidentiality and information exchange,in particular the bottom of page 37, Limits on the rights to privacy and confidentiality.
- Also refer page 26, questions 11,12 and 13 for additional information.
- The roles of direct care workers and supervisors are clarified in page 40, section 4.1.4.
Managing this example would be addressed by the supervisor, direct care workers and relevant others, utilizing the existing service response framework in that service (refer Section 3 as a whole but also Example 12 page 32 and Example 13 page 33). A review of the care plan and reassessment might be needed.
The manager/supervisor could consult with other specialist local, regional and state services to plan a way forward as per Fig 1: Victorian interagency response framework, on page 48.