Informed consent is an integral component of the provision of quality, patient-centred healthcare. Queensland Health is committed to providing support to their clinicians and patients in the area of informed consent by offering a comprehensive, relevant suite of consent documents.
Queensland Health maintains over 500 multi-disciplinary, procedure-specific informed consent and associated patient (consumer) information forms. The aim is to provide statewide consistency for clinicians, in particular doctors, who work in various healthcare settings and who are responsible for obtaining informed consent from patients.
The suites of statewide procedure-specific Informed Consent documents and patient information sheets will undergo a review to ensure they are appropriate, relevant and reflect current best practice. The schedule of review for Informed Consent documents has been prioritised according to patient safety concerns, requests received by a hospital or facility, and recommendations from coronial or health service investigations, as well as based on the number of website downloads.
A robust governance framework surrounds the development and review of the informed consent and patient information forms. The review methodology involves development, review and feedback from stakeholders including clinical experts, consumers and lawyers. Statewide Clinical Networks are also actively involved in the review process. The Statewide Informed Consent Steering Committee endorses these forms for use across Queensland Health facilities.
