Restrictive practice consent forms and AI security: what a consent record gives away in ChatGPT or Claude.

Before an aged care service uses a restrictive practice, other than in an emergency, it needs informed consent from the resident or, if she lacks capacity, from a substitute decision-maker, and it has to keep the record. The form is a template that staff fill in at a conversation with the family, so it is tempting to have ChatGPT or Claude write it up from the notes. The finished form holds the medicine, the behaviours that led to it, what was tried first, the risks explained, the guardian’s own words and a capacity assessment. This page marks every item in a realistic consent record and shows what the Aged Care Act 2024 and its Rules bear on, and how the same form is prepared on Ermos.

The restrictive practice consent form

Completed before a restrictive practice is first used, and reconfirmed at each review of the behaviour support plan.

Restrictive practice: informed consent record
Kurrajong Gardens Aged Care · Original consent 1 September 2026 · Reconfirmed 18 October 2026

Resident
Practice 1
Practice 2
Reason
Alternatives tried first
Risks explained
Guardian’s words
Capacity
Who consented
ReviewContinue for eight weeks from 18 October, then review.
Form wording

An invented consent record. Hover or tap any highlighted item for the analysis; the full list is below.

What leaves the service

  1. 1
    The resident

    A named woman, her room and her date of birth. Personal information that sections 23(5) and 168 of the Aged Care Act 2024 require the provider to protect. Privacy Act guide.

  2. 2
    The chemical restraint

    A named medicine, dose and start date. Rule 17-5 of the Aged Care Rules 2025 lists chemical restraint among the restrictive practice types. Health information, and the most regulated decision in the file. Use of a restrictive practice other than in accordance with the Rules is a reportable incident under section 16 of the Act. Patient data guide.

  3. 3
    The environmental restraint

    A sensor mat and a closed door overnight. The Rules list environmental restraint as a type too. The record of what is used and why is part of what the service must be able to show. Patient data guide.

  4. 4
    The reasons and the behaviours

    Violence against staff, injuries and wandering. Health information about a woman with dementia. It is also the justification for the practice, and a draft that rewords it changes the record. Patient data guide.

  5. 5
    Alternatives tried first

    What was tried and how well it worked. Rule 162-15 requires best practice alternative strategies to be used before a restrictive practice, to the extent possible, and those considered or used to be documented in the behaviour support plan. This is the service’s evidence that the practice is a last resort. Patient data guide.

  6. 6
    Risks explained

    What the family was told about the medicine. Consent has to be informed. The Department of Health describes informed consent from the person or a restrictive practices substitute decision-maker, and the explanation is part of what makes it informed. Patient data guide.

  7. 7
    A guardian’s own words

    A daughter’s quoted statement about what her mother would want and what she expects. Her own personal information and an expression of the resident’s values, given to the service for one purpose. Privacy Act guide.

  8. 8
    Who consented, and the authority for it

    The guardian, the document seen, the date the service confirmed her role, and a son left out at her request. Rule 6-20 defines the substitute decision-maker by reference to the law of the State or Territory, with a Commonwealth hierarchy as a fallback in limited cases, according to the Department of Health. In NSW the service should confirm the appointment before relying on it. Privacy Act guide.

  9. 9
    The capacity assessment

    A doctor’s finding that she could not understand or retain information, with her diagnosis. Health information, and the step that decides who consents. Patient data guide.

  10. 10
    The form wording

    The service’s standard line about withdrawing consent. It names no one and says nothing about this resident, so it can be shared.

What happens in Frontier Models (ChatGPT, Claude)

  • The whole document is transmitted to the provider’s servers. On personal plans the user cannot choose where it is stored or processed, and for the major providers that has generally meant outside Australia, under that country’s legal process. Some business plans offer storage in Australia, but the provider still receives the content.
  • On consumer tiers, prompts can be retained and used to train future models.
  • The provider’s staff and systems can reach the content under the provider’s own policies.
  • Once sent, the service no longer controls it. Retention and deletion happen on the provider’s terms.

The same document on Ermos

Ermos Dominion

The document is drafted on a unit in your office, from your own templates and the resident’s record. Every marked item stays on the unit, which keeps working with the internet switched off. Nothing in it is transmitted to an AI provider, so there is no disclosure to analyse: the confidentiality work is the same as for your file server.

Ermos Edge

Your documents, the index and your access boundaries stay on your own instance in an Australian data centre. When a staff member asks for this draft, only their question and the excerpts they are permitted to see go to a named Australian provider, who is contractually barred from keeping the content or training any model on it. Nothing is processed outside Australia.

Frontier Models (ChatGPT, Claude)Ermos EdgeErmos Dominion
Where the document is processedProvider servers, generally offshore on personal plansYour instance in an Australian data centre; answers generated in AustraliaThe unit in your office
Who can read itProvider staff and systems, under policyYour staff, within the boundaries you set. The named Australian provider processes only permitted excerpts, under contract, and keeps nothingYour staff only
Is it keptOn the provider’s termsKept on your instance; the provider is barred from retaining itStays on the unit
Can it train a modelOn consumer tiers, yesNo, by contractOnly your own unit learns from it, on your hardware

Part of AI data leakage in aged care providers.

Common questions

Do ChatGPT and Claude use the information in a restrictive practice consent form?
Whatever staff paste or upload is sent to the AI company's servers and processed there to produce a reply. As at October 2026, whether a conversation on a personal plan (ChatGPT Free, Plus or Pro; Claude Free, Pro or Max) can be used to train the models depends on a setting each user controls. Business plans (ChatGPT Business and Enterprise, Claude Team and Enterprise) and the developer APIs sit under commercial terms, and OpenAI and Anthropic each say they do not train on that content by default (OpenAI, Anthropic). On either product, the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons can send a whole conversation back for training. This form holds a risperidone start date, four incidents of striking staff, the alternatives tried first and Carolyn Thornbury-Wu's quoted words about her mother.
Is it safe to paste a restrictive practice consent form into ChatGPT or Claude?
No. The form ties a named woman's dementia diagnosis, a chemical restraint medicine, her behaviours and a capacity assessment to the guardian who consented. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) recommends in its guidance on commercially available AI products that organisations do not enter personal information, and particularly sensitive information, into publicly available generative AI tools, because of the significant and complex privacy risks. The reasons and alternatives are also the service's evidence that the practice is a last resort, so a reworded draft changes the record.
What if staff use their own ChatGPT or Claude account for a restrictive practice consent form?
The service cannot see or manage what was sent. On a personal plan the user cannot choose where conversations are stored or processed. Some business plans let an organisation choose to store data at rest in Australia (OpenAI), which still leaves the content with the AI company. Both companies can also review content that is flagged for safety or policy reasons. A consent record sent from a personal account sits outside the service's own records and controls, so nobody there can say who received Carolyn's words, the capacity assessment or the reasons for the restraint.
How can an aged care service use AI for a restrictive practice consent form without sending it to ChatGPT or Claude?
Ermos is built so the document stays under your control. On the Dominion AI unit it is drafted inside your office and none of it is sent to an AI provider. On Ermos Edge your documents and index stay on your own instance in an Australian data centre, and only the question and the excerpts the user is permitted to see go to a named Australian provider that is contractually barred from keeping them or training any model on them. Ermos prepares the draft from the resident's file and the service's own consent form template. The doctor and registered nurse check it, and the service confirms who may consent under NSW law before anyone signs.
Who can consent to a restrictive practice for a resident without capacity?
The Aged Care Rules 2025 provide for consent from the person if they have capacity, or from a restrictive practices substitute decision-maker if they do not. According to Department of Health guidance, rule 6-20 defines that role by reference to the law of the State or Territory where the care is delivered, with a Commonwealth hierarchy as a fallback in limited cases. In NSW a service should confirm the appointment before relying on it.
What happens if the substitute decision-maker refuses?
Department of Health guidance says that if the substitute decision-maker withholds consent, the provider cannot use the restrictive practice, except while an emergency exists under rule 162-15(2), and must record that decision in the behaviour support plan and the care and services plan. Use of a restrictive practice other than in accordance with the Rules is a reportable incident under section 16 of the Act.
What counts as a restrictive practice?
Rule 17-5 of the Aged Care Rules 2025 lists chemical restraint, environmental restraint, mechanical restraint, physical restraint and seclusion. Chemical restraint is the use of medication for the primary purpose of influencing behaviour, and the rule excludes medication prescribed to treat a diagnosed mental disorder, a physical illness or condition, or for end-of-life care. Section 18 of the Act requires the Rules to provide that a restrictive practice is used only as a last resort, and rule 162-15 requires best practice alternative strategies to be used first, to the extent possible, and documented in the behaviour support plan.

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