Sexuality and Intimacy Policy

Aged care residents have the right to express their identity, form relationships, and experience intimacy. A sexuality and intimacy policy helps your facility support these rights in a respectful, safe, and legally compliant way. This template is designed for facility managers, directors of nursing, compliance officers, and clinical leads working in Australian residential aged care.

What This Policy Covers

A sexuality and intimacy policy sets out how your organisation recognises and supports residents' sexual and relational rights. It guides staff on responding to intimate expressions in a way that respects individual dignity while managing risk and safeguarding vulnerable people.

The policy covers consent and capacity assessment, privacy and appropriate physical environments, staff conduct and communication, and how to handle sensitive situations involving residents with cognitive impairment. It also addresses how family members and representatives are engaged when appropriate.

Why This Policy Matters for Compliance

Australian aged care legislation and standards are explicit about residents' rights to dignity, autonomy, and self-expression. Failing to have a clear policy in place leaves your facility exposed to complaints, regulatory findings, and staff confusion during difficult situations.

Key Regulatory Alignment

Legislation or StandardRelevant RequirementStrengthened Aged Care Quality Standard 1 (The Person)Requires providers to support the identity, culture, and personal values of each resident, including their right to intimate relationships.Charter of Aged Care RightsGives every resident the right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to have their personal, cultural, and language needs recognised.Aged Care Act 2024 rights-based frameworkPositions older people as rights holders, not passive recipients. Providers must actively support personal autonomy, including sexual and relational expression.

Under the Aged Care Act 2024, providers have a positive obligation to support resident rights, not just avoid harm. This shifts the expectation: a sexuality and intimacy policy is no longer optional good practice. It is part of your duty of care.

What a Good Policy Should Include

A well-written sexuality and intimacy policy does more than state that residents have rights. It gives staff clear, practical guidance for real situations they will encounter at work.

Your policy should cover how staff are trained to respond sensitively, how consent is assessed (including for residents with dementia), how private space is provided, and how incidents or concerns are escalated. It should also connect to your broader safeguarding obligations. This policy works alongside your Abuse and Neglect Prevention Policy to protect residents from exploitation while respecting their agency.

The policy should also reference your Consumer Rights, Dignity and Choice Policy, which provides the broader rights framework that underpins person-centred care across your facility.

Common Gaps in Aged Care Facilities

Many providers have no written policy at all, or rely on general dignity and respect statements that do not address sexuality directly. Others have outdated documents that predate the rights-based shift in the Aged Care Act 2024.

Common gaps include no clear process for assessing capacity to consent, no guidance for staff on responding to intimate expressions in shared spaces, and no documented approach to supporting LGBTQIA+ residents. These gaps increase the risk of poor staff responses, resident harm, and adverse regulatory findings.

How Governa Helps

Governa's compliance platform gives aged care providers a structured way to manage their full policy library, track review dates, and stay aligned with changing legislation. The Norma compliance bot can help your team identify policy gaps, map documents to specific standards, and prepare for audits.

You can find this template alongside 35 others in the Policy Templates Library, covering the full range of resident rights, clinical care, and organisational governance topics.

Get the Free Template

Download the free Sexuality and Intimacy Policy template below and adapt it for your facility. If you want to see how Governa can help you manage this and every other compliance obligation in one place, book a demo at governa.ai.