Police Checks for Health Care Industry

Does the Industry Require More Regulation?

Of particular importance is the use of police checks as a screening tool in the healthcare industry. Not only are doctors and nurses required to undergo a police check, but also those such as dentists, optometrists and other such medical professionals will likely need to undergo this check before they can practice in their chosen field.

The benefits of requiring medical professionals to obtain police checks before beginning to practice and at regular intervals thereafter far outweigh the downsides: cost of these checks and the downtime experienced while waiting for the police check to come back. Indeed, the costs themselves may be covered by the healthcare organisation and, as it is a standard requirement for all potential employees, the time it takes to receive the check back is surely understood and taken into account.

Just as those individuals who will work with children are required to obtain a Working with Children Check, it is just as important to ensure that those individuals who will provide medical care have their background checked to determine whether they have committed any offences that would preclude them from working in the medical field.

When assessing an individual's police check, strict attention is paid to any conviction which regards murder, assault of any kind for which the individual was imprisoned, or sexual assault. Any individual who has a conviction of this type will likely not be able to practice in the healthcare industry, or even volunteer in this industry. The danger the individual poses in such circumstances is simply too high. All other convictions will be considered according to the policies of each individual healthcare provider to determine whether the individual will be able to be employed.

Once employed in the healthcare industry, individuals will be required to continue to undergo periodic police checks to ensure that they have not committed any offences in the intervening time which would result in termination of their employment.

Of course, care must be taken to ensure these individuals are not discriminated against on the basis of their past criminal record. As such, clear and rigorously followed policies must be put into place by which background checks can be assessed on a consistent basis.

Confidence gained

By requiring individuals in this field to undergo police checks before and during their employment, potentially serious situations can be averted by using an individual's prior behaviour as an indicator of their potential future behaviour. It also instills in people the confidence that they can trust those who provide them medical care. It would be terrible to go to your doctor worrying that, perhaps, just perhaps, he may be a murderer or that, say, your dentist had assaulted someone in the past.

Especially for those who provide care to vulnerable people – the aged, the disabled, children – a police check is just as essential as something like a Working with Children check. It ensures that vulnerable individuals will not be treated by those who should not be trusted with this responsibility.

Also, just as in any workplace, it is important for colleagues to trust one another. However, it is particularly important for those who are providing medical care to trust that their colleagues are safe people to work with and have not committed any crimes which would be deemed serious enough to prevent their employment. Especially for those who work together in high-stress medical roles, not having to worry whether their colleague may be a danger likely allows them to more easily focus on their job.

Police checks play an important role in the healthcare industry serving to protect patients, organisations and their employees.

Police Checks for Employment and Volunteers

Trust in an Un-trusting World?

National Police History Checks are now frequently being requested in employment and volunteer situations in order to assess a person's background to see if they have any criminal history which is relevant to the position that they wish to undertake and which the employing company or volunteer organisation might feel excludes them from consideration for the role.

However, police checks can be useful in a variety of different situations to ensure that the person one is placing their trust in is worthy of that trust. One such perhaps unusual or atypical use of a police check is to assess potential house-sitters. 

Trusting a Stranger

Instead of putting pets in a kennel and/or leaving a house empty and unattended for extended periods of time, many people will seek out someone who can come and stay in their house while they are away on vacation or business. This person will take over the duties of feeding and caring for any animals, look after the house to avoid potential maintenance problems that may occur while the homeowner is away and ensure the house remains occupied to avoid possible break-ins or other dangers that may befall an empty house.

However, a homeowner takes a risk in letting someone they don't know live in their house and take care of their beloved pets. Requesting a police check from those that they may choose to stay in their house can give them added peace of mind in placing their trust in this individual and can also ensure that they turn away individuals who may be dangerous to entrust with their home and pets.

Requesting a Police Check from Strangers

For those unfamiliar with the process of requesting a police check from others, the prospect can be daunting. They may feel they are tacitly accusing people of having a criminal past, just by requesting that they provide a police check before considering them for the role of house-sitter. However, they should not feel shy about ensuring the safety of their pets and their home.

If approached in a business-like manner, explaining that they would or do request all potential house-sitters to provide a police check and the importance to them of making sure that their house and animals will be in safe hands while they are away, the potential house-sitter should take little offence to this requirement. If they do seem to take offence or refuse to provide a police check, this could be a 'red flag' for the homeowner. Anyone who cannot understand why a homeowner would ask for a police check should probably not be a house-sitter.

Assessing a Person's History

When receiving a police check from a potential house-sitter, a homeowner may be pleased and satisfied to learn that the person they wish to house-sit has no criminal history or they may be dismayed to find that they do. Obviously, the decision is easier if the individual does not have a criminal record. However, a homeowner should think about how willing they are to consider those people that do have a criminal record.

All offences might seen as relevant by a homeowner, even if minor. Petty theft, while perhaps of little importance in an employment or volunteer position depending on the role, may be quite important to a homeowner who is thinking about allowing an individual to stay in their home with their possessions. A homeowner should consider having a discussion with those individuals who they wish to have house-sit for them but who possess a negative criminal record. They may find they feel comfortable choosing the person if they understand the history of the offence(s) and feel the individual will not commit these offences while staying in their home.

A homeowner may be willing to consider an individual who has a criminal history as long as the offences they committed are minor and sufficiently old, but care must be taken before they do. Overall, a police check can be an invaluable tool for homeowners seeking a house-sitter.

Working With Children - Police Checks

Most people are familiar with the pre-employment or pre-volunteer requirement of many companies for potential employees or volunteers to supply a police history check before they can officially be offered or considered for a position or volunteer role. Some people may also be required, or may instead be required, to supply a Working with Children Check. 

What are the differences between a National Police History Check and a Working with Children Check? While it is logical that one is for those who work with children and one is for those who don't, there are other key difference between the two checks.

Working with Children Check

For a Working with Children Check, the Department of Justice determines whether they feel a person should be cleared to work around or with children based upon relevant past criminal history, taking into account any past convictions which would indicate the individual should not work with children, and also considering any relevant work history. It is an assessment and a person will either be approved to work with children or not.

A Working with Children Check will look at all convictions relevant to an individual's ability to work with children over an individual's whole life, not just those which can normally be released for a police check. As mentioned, it will also look at a person's previous work experience, if relevant, and any disciplinary findings. Based upon this, a decision will be made to either approve or deny a person's Working with Children check.

When looking into an individual's past history, all findings which would be important to consider in terms of ensuring the protection of children will be relevant and considered. This is not restricted to the past ten years or another, limited timeframe, but includes considering all offences that a person may have committed.

Once issued with a Working with Children Check, it is good for 5 years. However, through the life of the check, a person's criminal offences will be monitored and, if they commit any relevant offences, the Department of Justice will be alerted and the check may be cancelled or suspended on the basis that the person is no longer cleared to work with children.

Policy History Check

A police check does not involve any government agency and is not an assessment of suitability for the work force. A police check simply states any past or pending criminal convictions which can be disclosed at the time the check is performed. It cannot be used to confirm that a person is cleared to work with children.

Whereas a Working with Children check will determine whether a person can or cannot work with children, a police check will merely provide a list of all past or pending criminal convictions which a person has and which can be reported, i.e. it does not include spent convictions. It will not confirm whether a person can work or volunteer, but rather simply provide potential employers with information about a person's criminal history.

A police check is current only for the moment at which it is issued, as it only confirms a person's criminal record up to that point. As such, it does not 'expire' but you may be required to provide a new police check upon request to confirm that no new offences have been committed.

If you are considering working in a role which would put you into contact with children, you will likely be asked to provide at least a Working with Children Check and perhaps also a Police Check so that your potential employer has a list of your past, disclosable criminal convictions. It is important to understand the differences between the two and why you may be asked to provide both.

Police Checks on Staff: Keep Your Business Safe

It's a Tuesday morning after a long, holiday weekend. Upon returning to the office, you discover that a break-in has occurred over the weekend and sensitive client files including financial information, company bank account and other passwords, all of the petty cash, and more have been stolen. What's worse, after investigating the break-in police determine that an employee, who is now nowhere to be found, committed the crime. 

This was a trusted employee who had been given possession of keys to the office, lock codes, and other information which enabled him to easily gain access to the office and sensitive information unnoticed and out-of-hours. Moreover, upon further investigation, police turn up a record of similar past offences this employee has committed.

This company wrongly trusted the employee and what he told them about his past, duped by his honesty in revealing certain other unrelated minor offences, believing him when he said he had altered his behaviour and had not reoffended recently. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case.

Keeping Your Business Safe

All of this could have been avoided if a simple police history check had been conducted before hiring this individual. The employer would then have been aware of his previous convictions and, likely, would not have made the decision to hire him, or, if they had, would not have entrusted him with keys to the office or other sensitive information.
What would it take your business to recover from a similar situation. Would you ever be able to regain your clients' trust and recoup the lost business that might result? Wouldn't you wish you had been able to do something to prevent this?

While potential employees and others may complain about requests to provide a police history check, as a business owner, hiring manager, company director, etc. your real responsibility in a hiring situation is to the company and your current employees. Asking for a police check is not overly burdensome for applicants when one considers the potential risk to the business of not understanding their employees' criminal histories. Moreover, it should not overly delay the hiring process as most police checks can be obtained swiftly, within a day or two of application.

Avoiding the Worst

During the interview and selection process, businesses who feel that they might be put at risk were their employees to have a criminal record should make it a policy to request a police check from all potential hires before a hiring decision is reached. In this way, they can become aware of any criminal offences which they feel would preclude the person from working for them. When hiring individuals, and thereby placing trust in them that they will be good, honest employees and moreover that they are law-abiding citizens, a company understandably should be able to have assurances that
they can indeed trust them.

This does not mean that all people with a criminal history will be prevented from obtaining work with companies that require police checks before hiring. Oftentimes, the previous offences committed by the individual seeking employment will be minor and would likely not affect the person in an employment situation. Companies must be careful to consider the types of offences committed, how long ago they were committed and whether there is a pattern of criminal behaviour when they assess whether to hire someone with a criminal record.

However, businesses should be able to choose to hire only those people without an adverse criminal history or those whose previous convictions would not affect them in their current employment. Requiring potential employees to provide a police check can be a valuable first line of defence for the company's security and peace of mind.

Police Checks a Necessity for More than Just Employment?

When considering the uses of Police Checks, most people would assume that they would be used solely in order for people to gain employment, to be assessed when looking to volunteer, or for similar reasons. However, the state of Victoria now requires those couples who are attempting to conceive via IVF to also submit to a police check.

History of the Victorian Law

In 2010, the state of Victoria passed laws which require those who wish to undergo IVF treatment in order to conceive a child to obtain a police check. They are also required to obtain a Child Protection Order Check. Those individuals who have spent a year or more residing in another country in the ten years previous to them obtaining Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) must provide a police check from that country as well.

Why require these checks for those receiving ART?

There is an argument to be made that in requiring these police checks to be performed on prospective parents the state government is taking responsibility for its citizens, albeit in this instance for its potential citizens. By ensuring that only those couples who can prove that they would not be a possible danger to their future children are assisted in conceiving, the government seems to be hoping to avoid problems down the line with people who are perhaps unfit to be parents. 

Moreover, for the majority of those people who are willing to go to such lengths to have children – the emotional, physical and financial burden of these treatments is indeed great – having to obtain a police check should be only a small added requirement in the process and should pose no difficulties.

Downsides to the legislation

However, what right does the government have to legislate who should be a parent and who should not? Certainly they would not propose to intercede in cases where a couple may conceive naturally. So why would they intervene in the case of couples receiving Assisted Reproductive Treatment? 

In a process that is already draining for all those involved, to have to prove that one should be a parent is surely an impediment too far. It can also add undue stress at a time of heightened emotions and tensions. In addition, while those couples who have always lived in Australia may find it a simple procedure to obtain a police check, due to the ease and speed at which police checks can be obtained in Australia, those couples who have spent time overseas have often found it difficult to obtain police checks from other countries.

For instance, in an article in the Herald Sun, they identified that for those who have previously lived in the United Kingdom, obtaining a police check for the purpose of obtaining IVF can be very difficult indeed. Many applications for these checks have been rejected as a waste of police time and resources, or they have been greatly delayed. It also indicated that obtaining these checks from the United States, Middle Eastern and African countries, and Japan was proving particularly problematic. For couples desperate to have a child, delays due to something like a police check could be unbearable.

There is even opposition to this by the IVF clinics themselves. At Melbourne IVF, on the same webpage that they explain the existing legislation in relation to this issue, they also point out that they are opposed to the legislation and direct patients to send their concerns to the appropriate parliament member or get in touch with an infertility group that seeks to campaign for the rights of couples receiving Assisted Reproductive Treatment.

Volunteering and National Police History Checks

Police checks are not just required when an individual is seeking employment. Oftentimes, volunteering organisations will request that potential volunteers obtain a police check in order to determine if the person is suitable to volunteer in specific environments, engage with specific people and perform specific tasks and roles.
This could be of particular importance when an individual proposes to volunteer to work with older people, those with disabilities or with children, all of whom may be vulnerable should the person not be of good character and cannot demonstrate this good character through a clean police check. Knowing the background of a potential volunteer can be of utmost importance in these situations.

No one would suggest that it would be good for someone who has been convicted of, say, murder or aggravated assault to have contact with vulnerable people in either an employment or volunteer situation. An individual with this history poses too much of a danger to vulnerable people. Likewise with other serious convictions. A police check allows volunteer organisations to feel confident that they are not allowing individuals with an adverse history access to vulnerable individuals.

However, there are many ways in which those with lesser convictions can be valuable volunteers in organisations. For example, perhaps all it would take would be for the individual to be supervised in their work to mitigate any potential problems that may arise if they were to work independently. Perhaps, as well, they could be given tasks or jobs upon which their criminal record would have a negligible effect.

Moreover, there may also be roles for which a police check is unnecessary and should not be requested. To ensure the privacy of individuals, careful consideration must be taken to ensure police checks are only requested when truly necessary. An applicant for a volunteer position must also consent to have a police check performed. 

If a criminal history is revealed in a police check, it is important that the appropriate people at the organisation have a conversation with the individual about their criminal record and allow the individual to explain, if they wish to, the circumstances related to them committing the crime and/or how they feel they have altered their behaviour since then. The individual should be given the opportunity to argue their case and have their opinion taken into account before a decision is reached on their suitability.

In addition, it is especially important that volunteering organisations understand they can provide a valuable service to the community by giving individuals with a criminal history - as determined by their national police check, who have often only committed minor offences, work experience and the confidence that comes through being productive and accomplishing things. 

By allowing individuals the opportunity to contribute to the community, they become more involved, active members of the community who are able to put their past behind them and may even use their volunteer experience to move into gainful employment. It is better for society if these individuals are not ostracised forever. While they should be punished for their crimes, it is also best if, once they have been punished, they can be given support to alter their behaviour. 

Becoming a volunteer may help them on their way to change their behaviour. Use of police checks to monitor that behaviour commitment may help.

However, whether a volunteer organisation chooses to utilise the skills of those with a criminal history or not, they should ensure that the utmost sensitivity and privacy are maintained when obtaining police checks, in reviewing them and in discussing them. The results of a police check must be kept confidential at all times. While they are most certainly beneficial in assessing individuals hoping to volunteer for certain positions, they must be used with sensitivity, intelligence and in confidence.

How to apply for a National Police Check with Veritas Check

For those people who require a police check, the process is a simple one that involves very few steps, costs very little and can be accomplished relatively quickly. Many companies can provide you with a National Police Check. The first step is to choose a company that you trust and feel comfortable applying through.

Consider:

• Once you have chosen which company you wish to go through, you will typically be asked to complete an online application. This is usually a quick procedure which should not take up too much of your time.
• Next, you will be asked to confirm you are who you say you are by providing certain forms of identification. Acceptable identification is defined as providing the typical 100 points of identification as often used in Australia.
• Lastly, you will need to lodge your application by having copies of your 100 points of identification certified as true copies by someone who can witness statutory declarations.
• You will then need to post your application and documents to the appropriate company.

Timeframes for Return of Police Check Results
When applying for a Police Check with Veritas Check, you should expect to receive your police check back within 30 mintues if applied via the website: www.veritascheck.com.au. This is not too long to wait for something so important, and it seems a triumph that companies can provide such speedy processing times for such a check, especially when many people move between states and thus their records in all states must be checked. 

If you are anxious about your application, many companies will allow you to track the progress of your application using basic information such as your surname, email and a reference number you have been given.

Proving the authenticity of a National Police Check
Once your police check has been finished, you will be emailed the results of this check. However, how can you prove to potential employers or others that your police check is genuine? Generally, the company that you have gone with will provide you with a reference number to allow those who wish to to verify your check on the company's website. Some companies will also give you a QR code which you or those who you give access to the code can scan using a mobile device to confirm the validity of your police check.

Costs of a National Police Check
You may think that the cost of a police check will be unbearably prohibitive, considering the costs of other work-related testing, security cards, etc. However, police checks are surprisingly affordable and as such should not prohibit people from applying to jobs or other opportunities on the basis of cost.

Validity of a National Police Check
It will be up to your employer, future employer or any company or business who requests you to provide a police check on how long they will accept your police check. As a police check can only confirm your criminal record or lack thereof at a single point of time (the point at which it is checked), how long it is acceptable is up to whoever requests it. Often times, companies will accept a police check that has been done within the past year or two, perhaps even more. 

However, even if you must have one done more frequently than this, the low cost and speed at which you can obtain a new one should mean that it will be easy for you to obtain a new one whenever you require it.