Tasmanian Bills Fact Sheets Tasmanian Bills Fact Sheets[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]
FACT SHEET
Mental Health Amendment Bill 2009
The Mental Health Act 1996 enables a person with a mental illness to be placed on a
community treatment order if:
� because of the mental illness, there is a significant risk of harm to the person
or others unless the mental illness is treated;
� the order is necessary to ensure that the illness is properly treated; and
� there are facilities or services available for the person's care or treatment.
Community treatment orders essentially allow an involuntary patient to receive
treatment in the community rather than in hospital provided the patient complies
with the terms of the order. This may include taking or submitting to the
administration of medication, or attending a treatment centre.
The use of community treatment orders in appropriate cases is consistent with the
principles of the Mental Health Act 1996 which dictate that wherever possible, people
with mental illness should be treated in the community.
The Mental Health Amendment Act 2005 amended the Mental Health Act 1996 to
enable a patient found to have failed to comply with the terms of a community
treatment order to be temporarily admitted to an approved hospital for up to
14 days to obtain treatment. This effectively enables a patient's treating medical
practitioner to intervene early to prevent a person's health from deteriorating.
Before the 2005 amendments, patients known to have failed to comply with a
community treatment order could not be involuntarily admitted to hospital to
receive treatment until they had become so unwell that they effectively constituted a
significant risk of harm to themselves or to others. This effectively rendered
community treatment orders unenforceable and as such they were rarely used.
Because of the 2005 amendments it is now possible for a patient's treating medical
practitioner to intervene at an earlier point in time. Intervention can now occur at
the point that the patient's health begins to deteriorate, or where there is a
significant risk of this occurring.
The Mental Health Amendment Act 2005 contains a sunset clause (section 19) such
that the amendments to the Mental Health Act 1996 brought about by the Mental
Health Amendment Act 2005 will expire on 11 January 2010. The sunset clause was
included on the basis that the amendments provided an immediate and temporary
alternative to the use of more restrictive or inappropriate orders, in light of the then
impending review of the Mental Health Act 1996.
An outcome of the review of the Mental Health Act 1996 is the development of a
new Mental Health Act. The sunset clause was extended in 2007 to reflect the
current position, to accommodate this task.
Page 1 of 2
New legislation is in the process of being developed. It will not however be finalised
by January 2010. The Mental Health Amendment Bill 2009 seeks to amend section 19
to again extend the operation of the amendments for a further two years until
11 January 2012. This is a temporary measure designed to maintain the ability for
community treatment orders to be enforced while the new Mental Health Act is
being finalised.
The new Mental Health Act is expected to deal with the broader issues associated
with compulsory treatment in the community by providing for a single Treatment
Order which would operate both in community and in-patient settings, enabling
patients to flexibly transition between treatment settings as and when required and
appropriate. The new Mental Health Act will specify a range of possible responses in
the event of failure to comply, including possible admission to hospital. Any change
in treatment setting would be subject to Mental Health Tribunal oversight.
Page 2 of 2