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Consent for virtual care: individual and community

Informed individual consent, and community consent where it applies.

What this is: how consent works for virtual care, and a consent form template you can adapt.

Who it's for: clinic and nurse managers, Aboriginal Health Workers and Practitioners, GPs, and ACCHO leaders.

Two layers of consent

In remote and primary care, consent works on two levels. There is the individual consent of the patient in front of you, and in community-controlled settings there is also the community's say in how virtual care is offered at all. Both matter.

Individual consent

Consent must be informed and freely given. Before a virtual consult, the patient should understand:

  • What virtual care is, and that a clinician will join by video rather than in person.
  • Who will be in the room and who will be on the call.
  • What equipment will be used and why.
  • That a local team member will support them and act as the clinician's hands.
  • How their information is recorded, stored and shared.
  • That they can choose a face-to-face consult instead, and can change their mind at any time, without their care suffering.

Consent is a conversation, not a signature. Give the patient time, answer their questions, and use an interpreter if one is needed. A patient can agree, decline, or stop part way through.

Recording

Do not record a consultation unless the patient has agreed to it specifically. Recording needs its own clear consent, separate from consent for the consult itself.

Community consent and community control

In an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, the community decides how services are delivered. Virtual care should be introduced with the community, not simply offered to it. That means engaging the community, and where relevant the Elders and the board, in how virtual care will work, how consent will be sought, and how data will be handled. Individual consent still applies to each patient. Community consent shapes the service those patients are consenting to.

This is not a barrier. A service the community has shaped is one patients trust, and trust is what makes virtual care work.

A consent form template

Adapt this for your service. Replace the text in [square brackets]. Keep the language plain, and offer it in the languages your patients speak.

Consent for a virtual care consultation

[Service name] offers virtual care consultations. In a virtual care consultation, a doctor or other health professional joins by video. A local staff member stays with you and helps with the examination.

  • I understand what a virtual care consultation is and who will be involved.
  • I understand a local staff member will support me and help the clinician.
  • I understand how my health information will be recorded and stored.
  • I know I can choose a face-to-face consultation instead.
  • I know I can stop or change my mind at any time, and my care will not suffer.
  • I would like an interpreter: [yes / no]. Language: [_______]

Patient name: [_____________________]

Patient signature or mark: [_____________] Date: [_______]

Staff member name: [_____________]

Staff member signature:[_____________] Date: [_______]

(If the patient cannot sign, record how consent was given and who witnessed it.)

Keep it current

Review your consent process with your community and your clinical governance group from time to time, so it keeps meeting both legal requirements and community expectations.

Need help?

Visionflex acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.