Hospital Perpetuo Socorro

1. The user has the right to receive comprehensive healthcare pertaining to his or her problems, within the efficient functioning of the welfare resources available.

2. The user has the right for his or her personality, intimacy and human dignity to be respected, without being discriminated against for social, moral, ideological or economic reasons.

3. The user has the right to confidentiality regarding all his or her personal information at the time of admittance, including his or her confidential stay in healthcare establishments and centres, expect when legal demands make it necessary.

4. The user has the right to receive full and continuous information, verbal or written, about everything related to their admittance, including diagnoses, treatment alternatives and their risks and prognosis, which will be provided comprehensibly. Should the client not wish or not manifestly be able to receive said information, it must be provided to legally responsible persons or relatives.

5. The user has the right to freely decide between the options presented to him or her by the doctor responsible for their case, with express prior consent necessary before any intervention except in the following cases: Urgent emergencies. When not following a course of treatment implies a risk to public health.

When the patient is not capable of making decisions, in which case the right will be that of legally responsible family members or persons.

6. The user will have the right to decline treatment, expect in those cases outlined in point 5, for which he or she must request voluntary discharge, in the conditions outlined in point 6 of the Duties section.

7. The user has the right to be assigned a doctor whose name he or she must know and who will be his or her valid representative with the healthcare team. In the case of absence. Another practioner from the team will assume the responsibility.

8. The user has the right for his or her admittance to be recorded in writing; this information and the tests undertaken constitute the Clinical History.

9. The user has the right for clinical research, experiments or trials to not be undertaken on them without information regarding methods, risks and objectives. Written authorisation from the client is essential, along with acceptance by the doctor, of the basic principles and regulations established in the Declaration of Helsinki. Teaching activities will therefore require specific patient consent.

10. The user has the right to the correct functioning of healthcare services, with acceptable levels of living, hygiene and food, and respect for their privacy.

11. Should the user be admitted to hospital, he or she will have the right to ensure that, as minimally as possible, it does not affect his or her social or personal relationships. In order to do so, the hospital will provide the most extended visiting arrangements possible, access to communication and cultural means and services, and the possibility of activities which encourage social relationships and leisure enjoyment.

12. The user has the right to receive all the information he or she wishes concerning healthcare activities that affect them and their personal situation.

13. The user has the right to know the formal avenues through which to make claims, complaints, suggestions and, in general, to communicate with the Body’s administration. He or she therefore has the right to be answered in writing.

14. The user has the right to VOLUNTARY DISCHARGE at all times through the signing of the corresponding document, expect those cases outlined in Rights, Art. 5.

15. The user has the right to exhaust the reasonable possibility of overcoming his or her illness. The hospital will provide the necessary help with material and spiritual matters in the case of death.

16. The user has the right for Healthcare institutions to provide: Adequate technical healthcare with qualified staff. The maximum use of the resources available. Healthcare with the minimum risks, pain and physical and mental discomfort.

1. The user has the duty to collaborate in the compliance of the regulations and instructions established in Healthcare Institutions.

2. The user has the duty to treat Healthcare Institution staff, other patients and companions with the utmost respect.

3. The user has the duty to request information regarding the Institution’s operating regulations and channels of communication (complaints, suggestions, claims and questions). He or she must know the name of the doctor.

4. The user must respect the facilities and collaborate in the maintenance of the Healthcare Institution’s living conditions.

5. The user has the duty to sign the Voluntary Discharge document should he or she not accept treatment methods.

6. The user has the duty to be responsible for the appropriate use of the help provided by the welfare system, fundamentally concerning the use of services, sick leave or permanent disability procedures, and medical or financial benefits.

7. The user has the duty to use the avenues made available for claims and suggestions.

8. The user has the duty to demand that his or her rights are complied with.

The process of nursing care is based on the individual, on the human being upon whom care is centred and demands that every nurse primarily and fundamentally considers the individual needs of the client/patient.

This petition introduces the element of existentialism.

No healthcare professional can cover the welfare needs of an individual without their prior consultation.

This consultation is a double process for having asked someone what their needs are; an individual is unauthorised (except in a totalitarian state) to impose on another, their own points of view and, even less so, to perform specific acts upon said individual without their consent.

It is an overwhelming challenge for a group of professionals, who for hundreds of years have delivered nursing care to individuals willing to receive it autocratically. This is the cultural challenge of the nursing process, which demands that nurses return to focus the basis of their care on giving control to the user.