Gosnells Community Legal Centre (GCLC) has partnered with Legal Aid WA to establish a new Health Justice Partnership at Armadale Hospital.
The returning program will see a lawyer based at the hospital once a week, providing patients with free legal assistance directly from their bedside.
The initiative revives a previous Health Justice Partnership that was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The on-site lawyer is expected to handle various legal issues, including civil matters such as guardianship, credit issues, fines, and disputes, as well as family law and violence cases.
Sarah Patterson, CEO of GCLC says she’s pleased to see the return of free legal support for patients at Armadale Hospital with a number of services available.
“Legal Aid reached out earlier this year to see if we would like to partner on a new HJP at Armadale (Hospital) and we jumped at the chance,” Ms Patterson said.
“Legal Aid deals with civil matters such as guardianship, credit issues, fines and disputes and we deal with family law and family violence issues. Things like separation, children’s custody and violence restraining orders.”
The program is currently funded through the resources of Legal Aid WA and GCLC, with hopes for future expansion.
“We would love to see some funding to support the program as we already seeing great demand for the service.
“The program is currently unfunded, and Legal Aid and GCLC are using their own resources to put the program in place,” Ms Patterson said.
The on-site lawyer aim is to improve patient wellbeing by addressing legal issues that can sometimes negatively affect the recovery of patients.
“We know that well-being is linked to recovery and the stress of these issues impacts on people’s ability to heal. Dealing with the ancillary issues to their health has huge impacts on wellness, healing and recovery,” Ms Patterson explained.
GCLC says the legal services provided through this partnership are completely free of charge for patients.
“Our commitment is to be an accessible and approachable service for vulnerable people, and provide them what they need, when they need it. Our Health Justice Partnership allows us to offer this service to people who are in hospital and help them to get wrap-around care”,” she stated.
