New South Wales Consolidated Acts New South Wales Consolidated Acts(Section 74A (3))
Your rights
You should read the questions and answers below to find out your rights and what may happen to you after you become a patient in a mental health facility.
The medical
staff must tell you about your treatment, treatment alternatives and the
effects of treatment if you ask. They must also tell you about treatment plans
and recovery plans for your ongoing care and get your agreement to them, if
you are able to agree.
You can accept or refuse any treatment and you can stop agreeing to a
treatment at any time. You must not be given excessive or inappropriate
medication.
Other patients in the mental health facility may be very ill and being kept and treated in the mental health facility without their agreement.
You can leave the mental health facility at any time but you need to tell a staff member that you wish to leave. You may also be discharged by the medical superintendent or another authorised medical officer if they think you are not likely to get a benefit from more care or treatment as a patient.
You can be
kept in a mental health facility against your will if you are certified by the
facility doctor as a mentally ill person or a mentally disordered person. You
may be kept for up to 2 hours against your will so that the facility doctor
may see you to decide whether to certify you.
A mentally ill person is someone who has a mental illness and who needs to be
kept in a mental health facility for their own protection or to protect other
people. A mentally disordered person is someone whose behaviour shows that
they need to be kept in a mental health facility for a short time for their
own protection or to protect other people.
The facility cannot continue to keep you against your will unless at least one
other doctor also finds that you are a mentally ill person or a
mentally disordered person. At least one of the doctors who sees you must be a
psychiatrist.
If a
mental health facility doctor who is not the medical superintendent refuses to
admit you as a voluntary patient or decides to discharge you from the
facility, you can ask the medical superintendent of the facility to review
that decision.
If you are a patient in a mental health facility for more than 12 months, the
Mental Health Review Tribunal will review your case and also find out whether
you have agreed to stay as a patient. The Tribunal may order you to be
discharged after reviewing your case.
No.
You may ask any facility staff member, social worker, doctor, official visitor, chaplain, your own lawyer or LawAccess NSW for help. The LawAccess NSW telephone number is:
(note : Appropriate telephone numbers should be included.)
You may ask any facility staff member if you can see an official visitor. Staff will arrange for a visit by an official visitor.
You may nominate up to 2 people to be your designated carers, including a person who is also your principal care provider, while you are in a mental health facility. A designated carer or your principal care provider may ask for information on your behalf and will be informed if you are kept in a mental health facility, transferred or discharged and of proposed special mental health treatments. You and a designated carer or any other person who is your principal care provider also have the right to be given information about follow-up care if you are discharged.