Informed consent
Informed consent is an important part of health care and works best when there is good communication between patients and their healthcare professional. Achieving informed consent is a goal health professionals and patients must approach together.
Healthcare professionals have ethical, legal and professional requirements to make sure patients give consent before any procedure, test or treatment, and when prescribing medicines.
When done well, informed consent supports patients to understand the risks, benefits, alternatives, potential consequences and costs of medical treatments and tests, enabling them to weigh options and make decisions about care and treatment.
Informed consent is a person’s agreement, given voluntarily, to a healthcare treatment, procedure or other intervention. This requires the provision of accessible, accurate and relevant information about the healthcare intervention, and the expected outcomes, benefits, risks and alternative options, relevant to that person, including:
- doing nothing
- watching and waiting
- and/or lifestyle interventions.
At the Commission, we believe informed consent is a key quality and safety issue.
Informed consent is achieved through shared decision making and is integral to the right to information in the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights, and recognised in Professional Codes of Conduct. Additionally, the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards require all hospitals and day procedures services to have informed consent processes that comply with legislation, lawful requirements and best practice.
Top tips for patients
When preparing for or taking part in informed consent processes remember you can:
- Have a support person attend the visit with you
- Ask for an interpreter if you need one
- Share any communication needs you may have
- Ask for things to be repeated, explained in a different way or for more information
- Ask questions
- Take time to talk with other people before making a decision
- Do your own research or look for more information
- Seek a second opinion, if you are not sure what’s right for you
- Ask for another visit or appointment before you decide.
The Commission has resources available on informed consent.
