"Lack of recognition for Enduring Power of Guardianship at hospitals"

I am writing this on behalf of a Carer in my Carers WA Support Group. They have their spouse in Bridgetown Hospital, and they are a Patient Awaiting a Care Home Placement. My friend has an Enduring Power of Guardianship (EPG) with All Functions Authorised at Section 4. One of the functions allowed under this Sections is that they can

"seek and receive information on my behalf (in this case their spouse) from any person, body or organisation"

However, it would seem that WACHS does not acknowledge or recognise this authority from a legally binding document. This came about when my friend noticed that their spouse had lost a large amount of weight and when they reported this to the staff, the staff seemingly were unconcerned and did not even notice the loss of weight, as my friend’s spouse hadn't been weighed. It turns out that my friend’s spouse had lost 12kg in 7 weeks. When the staff eventually did weigh them, they advised my friend that they had corresponded with a dietitian to resolve the issue. My friend requested access to the correspondence at which point they were told that they needed to get a Freedom of Information form, which having the EPG in place I believe was in fact untrue. It was then that my friend found out that WACHS do not recognise the EPG. I contacted the authors of the document; in this case the Office of Public Advocate at the Department of Justice in WA where a member of their legal team advised me that this is a common issue that needs resolving. I would like to know if any other patients have come upon this situation where their rights are being ignored by health professionals. Now I am not blaming the Doctors and Nurses as they do a fantastic job, whilst I believe being hampered by WACHS. It should be stated that I have already begun to take steps to raise this issue further.