The Law Handbook 2024

838 Section 8: Disability, mental illness and the law • at or near the place they were taken into care and control • at a specified body. This normally means the person is taken to the nearest hospital emergency department or designated mental health service. Authorised health professionals, including paramedics, may assist police by: • providing transport • providing advice to support health-informed responses • exercising any of the other powers of authorised persons. On arrival at a specified body the person must be transferred and accepted into the care and control of a registered medical practitioner, an authorised mental health practitioner or a registered nurse. The care and control must be accepted as soon as it is reasonably practicable and safe to do so (s 235). The person must be examined as soon as practicable. An authorised person no longer has care and control of a person if: • the person has absconded • a registered medical practitioner or authorised mental health practitioner has examined the person and either made a community assessment order or determined that the criteria for making an assessment order do not apply • the person has been accepted into the care and control of a person at a specified body • the care and control of the person has been transferred to another authorised person (s239). An authorised person may also release a person from their care and control if they are satisfied that care and control is no longer necessary to prevent imminent and serious harm to the person or another person. Care and control ends if a person is released on this basis. Transport of a person to or from a designated mental health service Authorised persons may take a person into care and control for the purpose of providing transport under any provision of the MHWA. This may include transport of compulsory patients to or between hospitals, designated mental health services or other specified bodies (s 241). Other powers of authorised persons Search The MHWA includes specific requirements that authorised persons must follow when searching a person, this includes that the search must be the least invasive kind of search practicable in the circumstances (s 247). A search must be conducted in a way that provides reasonable privacy and be done as quickly as is reasonably practicable. If a search involves running hands over a person the search must be conducted by an authorised person (or another person under the direction of an authorised person) who is nominated by the person being searched or is of the gender preferred by the person, wherever practicable. A person’s gender is determined by how they identify. If the person being searched is 16 years of age or under, the search should be conducted in the presence of a parent, carer or supporter of the person. If this is not reasonably practicable another adult should be present. Entry In limited circumstances, authorised persons may (s 246): • enter a premises where they are satisfied on reasonable grounds the person may be found; • search a person if they reasonably suspect that person is carrying something that presents a danger to themselves or anyone else; • seize items found during a search if the authorised person is reasonably satisfied that the thing presents a danger; • use bodily restraint if: – all reasonable and less restrictive options have been tried or considered and have been found to be unsuitable AND – the use of bodily restraint is necessary to prevent imminent and serious harm to the person or anyone else. All authorised persons may assist one another in performing their duties under the MHWA.