Support persons in health settings

The information on this webpage is for people with disability attending a Queensland Health hospital or health setting, their families, carers and support workers.

You can have somebody support you in hospital.

You can choose who the right person is to be with you in hospital. This may be a family member, a friend, a carer or a paid support person.

Family members or friends who support you are sometimes called carers. Carers are people who give you support that is not part of a paid work or community work arrangement. A person who is paid to support you is sometimes called a support worker. This also includes people who are supporting your care or treatment such as patient advocates, social workers, therapists, sighted guides, translators or substitute decision makers. Carers and support workers have to follow the rules of the hospital or health service when they are in the hospital or health setting.

Healthcare staff are responsible for your safety and wellbeing. There may be situations where they can ask your support person to leave, such as when it is necessary to safely deliver healthcare services or if the support person is not following hospital guidelines.

If possible, bring information about your health and disability to hospital so that you and your supporter can show the hospital staff and help them understand your care needs. You can use tools like the Julian’s Key Health Passport and the Care Companion to help share this information. This information can help Queensland Health staff make adjustments to enable equitable access to safe, effective patient-centred care.

Your rights

Everyone seeking or receiving care in the Australian health system has access to certain rights. Queensland Health adheres to the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights, which describes what consumers, or someone they care for, can expect when receiving healthcare.

All people have the right to access, safety, respect, communication, participation, privacy, confidentiality and providing feedback. This includes the right to involve the people you want in planning and making decisions about your care and treatment.

The Queensland Government has accepted in-principle the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability recommendation 6.31 b):

  • The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care and state and territory counterparts should review all policies and protocols to ensure people with disability are permitted to be accompanied by a support person in any health setting. This should apply at all times, including when in-person healthcare restrictions are in place, such as during COVID-19.

For NDIS participants

If you are a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participant and admitted to hospital, you can have a NDIS support worker attend the hospital with you if this has been approved by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) and the hospital. These are sometimes referred to as “concurrent supports.” Examples can include if you have communication support needs, or if you experience behaviours described as challenging.

  • If you have communication support needs and use a communication partner or support worker to help you with your communication.
  • If you have behavioural support needs and a support worker is needed to help you feel safe, regulated and in control. The support worker may also be needed to assist with helping you access information, so you can engage with medical treatments safely.

It you would like to have a NDIS worker provide supports in hospital, you must provide consent for the funding to come from your NDIS plan and seek approval from the hospital, the NDIA, and the NDIS service provider. You can ask the hospital for a NDIS Health Liaison Officer to assist you with this process.

For NDIS providers and support workers

NDIS providers and workers have certain obligations that they must abide by. When in health settings this includes:

Safety

  • Provide supports and services safely, with care and skill, in line with hospital expectations.
  • Get approval from appropriate hospital staff before you start delivering supports.
  • Act when something might affect the quality or safety of supports you provide.
  • Make sure the transition to and from hospital is safe. This includes communicating with hospital staff before you transfer a NDIS participant.
  • Show identification to confirm you are employed by a NDIS provider.

Respect

  • Respect the rights of people with disability. This includes their right to privacy, freedom of expression, self-determination and decision making. You must not breach patient privacy.
  • Support the least restrictive approach to disability supports needed for discharge.

Integrity

  • Act with integrity, honesty and transparency.
  • You must not:
    • be unethical, pressure or harass people with disability to get new business
    • ask people with disability to agree to a service agreement
    • ask hospital staff for referrals or new business
    • make false or misleading claims about the services you can provide. This includes promising supports that are not funded in a NDIS participant’s plan (e.g. Specialist Disability Accommodation and specific Supported Independent Living ratios)
    • leave promotional material without written permission from the hospital executive.

Duty of care

  • You must report:
    • concerns of violence, exploitation, neglect and abuse (including sexual misconduct) of people with disability
    • suspected fraud in how NDIS funds are used
    • suspected conflicts of interest.
  • Take prompt action if a participant’s circumstances change. It is not appropriate to take a participant to hospital to escalate a request for plan reassessment. You should:
    • complete assessments, collate evidence and submit a change of circumstances request with enough time; using funding without submitting clinical evidence of increased supports will be investigated
    • let the hospital or health service know if the request is urgent.
  • Be professional and efficient in meeting your responsibilities to a participant – do not delay their transition to the community.
  • Do not stop delivering supports that are in an existing service agreement, or without arranging a supported transition to an alternative provider. This is essential if it may result in homelessness.
  • Do not rely on hospitals and healthcare staff to:
    • manage overuse or depletion of NDIS funding
    • provide crisis accommodation for people with disability who do not need urgent medical care.

Resources for how to make a complaint

Last updated: 27 February 2025