How to Write an NDIS Privacy and Dignity Policy

Privacy and Dignity is one of the five standards under Rights and Responsibilities in the NDIS Core Module. The outcome requires that each participant can access supports that respect and protect their dignity and right to privacy, and specifically:

Consistent processes and practices are in place that respect and protect the personal privacy and dignity of each participant
Each participant is advised of confidentiality policies using the language, mode of communication and terms they're most likely to understand
Each participant understands and agrees to what personal information will be collected and why, including recorded material in audio and/or visual format

This article walks through different areas to include in your privacy and dignity policy and procedure, not only to meet the requirements of the standards but to make sure your participants receive respectful supports.

Dignity in practice

Dignity is mostly about how workers behave in someone's home, so your policy should set out these expectations and include how you'll know they're being met.

Things worth considering:

Knocking and waiting before entering a bedroom or bathroom, and what workers should do if they don't get a response
Closing doors, curtains and blinds during personal care, and keeping someone covered during showering and dressing
Asking before touching, and explaining what you're about to do
How workers speak to a participant, including not using a raised voice or a tone they'd use with a child
Not discussing a participant in front of them as though they aren't there
Respecting someone's home, their belongings and their space, including asking before moving or using their things
Supporting someone to present themselves the way they want to, including clothing, grooming and personal preferences
Privacy during phone calls, video calls and visits
Dignity in how you write about someone, since your notes will be read by others and can be read by them

Where relevant to your supports, these items should also be included in your induction and supervision processes, so link your policy to both.

Recorded material

The third indicator specifically refers to recorded material in audio and visual formats. Cover in your policy:

Photographs and video, including anything used for social media, marketing, newsletters or a website
Video used for training, competency assessment or supervision
Recorded telehealth or video call sessions
CCTV, doorbell cameras and other recording devices in or around a home
Audio recordings, including where a worker records a handover or a conversation

For each, the participant needs to understand what's being collected and why, and to agree to it. Consent should be specific, for example, agreeing to a photo at a Christmas party isn't agreement to appear in your marketing brochures. In your policy, outline how consent is recorded, how long it applies, and how someone withdraws it, including what happens to material already published.

Where a participant may not be able to consent for themselves, set out who can and on what basis.

Telling participants about confidentiality

The second indicator asks that each participant is advised of your confidentiality policies in the language, mode of communication and terms they're most likely to understand.

There's no specifics on what this needs to look like, but could include a plain language or Easy Read version of your process or a conversation at intake, and a way of checking the person understood rather than assuming they did. Ensure you record that the conversation happened, in what form, and when.

Privacy and dignity in shared living

If you deliver Supported Independent Living, several of the SIL Practice Standards requirements are also relevant here.

The agreements standard is explicit that each participant should have access to house keys, and private spaces managed according to their preferences, including the right to control who enters their private space. It also says no limits should be applied to a participant's access or possessions unless there's a behaviour support plan in place, and any limits applied must be in the least restrictive way possible and in accordance with that BSP.

So consider whether locking a bedroom, a fridge, a pantry or a cupboard, or restricting access to someone's own possessions, is likely to be an environmental restraint and a restrictive practice rather than a house rule. Make sure your policy says so, and says what a worker should do if they think a restriction is needed.

Other things SIL providers should address:

Visitors, and how participants are supported to have them without unnecessary restrictions
How shared spaces are used, and how participants are involved in decisions about them
Privacy between co-tenants, including personal information, belongings and conversations
Consultation with existing participants before someone new moves into the home
Where workers do their paperwork, take calls and hold handovers, and whether that's within earshot of participants or their visitors
How workers treat the home when they're in it, including staff areas, food, and use of the participant's things

The SIL Practice Governance standard includes a worker statement to the effect that the workplace is first and foremost a participant's home. It's a useful line for your own policy and induction material, and a value to embed in your overall practice.

Privacy and Dignity, and Information Management

Privacy and Dignity is about respecting privacy and dignity in the way you deliver supports. The mechanics of information handling, meaning consent to collect and disclose, storage, security, access and correction, and retention, sit further down in the separate Information Management standard the Core Module. The two standards have separate outcomes and separate indicators, so make sure your policies cross-reference each other if needed.

What it looks like when the policy isn't working

This standard is one where the gap between the document and the practice is going to be visible to the person receiving support. A participant would notice:

Being talked about in front of them, as though they aren't in the room
A worker walking into their bedroom or bathroom without knocking, or knocking and coming straight in
Being left uncovered during showering or dressing, or the door or curtains left open
Their belongings moved, used or thrown out without being asked
Their photo on your Facebook page when they don't remember agreeing to it, or agreed to something else
Overhearing a worker discussing them at handover, on the phone, or with another participant's family
Their support needs discussed with a family member who they'd rather wasn't told
A locked cupboard or fridge in their own home, with no explanation of who decided that
Being asked to sign a form nobody has explained to them

Ask participants about these directly, and have a system to check in regularly, to explore their own experiences of receiving support from your workers. This also helps provide evidence for the Core Module indicator on people with disability contributing to your governance, and for continuous improvement.

What to put in place

A privacy and dignity policy covering both halves of the standard
Practical guidance for workers on dignity during personal care and in someone's home
A consent process for photographs, video and recordings, specific to each use, with a record of what was agreed and how to withdraw it
Accessible versions of your confidentiality information, and a record of the conversation with each participant
For SIL, arrangements covering keys, private space, visitors, shared spaces and possessions
A check that any limits on access or possessions are properly authorised
Induction and supervision that cover the practice, not just the policy

Paperbark's Certification Toolkit helps you build your privacy and dignity policy and procedure, and the supporting consent forms, directly from your answers about how your service actually operates.

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