The Law Handbook 2024

840 Section 8: Disability, mental illness and the law of Health (‘ Department of Health (Vic) ’) about the provision of such mental health and wellbeing services (s 266). The chief psychiatrist has a range of functions under section 121 of the MHWA, including developing and publishing standards, guidelines and practice directions for the provision of mental health and wellbeing services and assisting mental health and wellbeing service providers to comply with these and develop and maintain clinical governance frameworks to improve the quality and safety of those services; providing clinical leadership, clinical reviews, analysing data, undertaking research and publishing information about mental health and wellbeing services, including in the annual report. Although it does not have a complaints function, the Chief Psychiatrist can, under section 267 of the MHWA, conduct an investigation of services provided by clinical mental health service providers, give directions to those providers in respect of the provision of services and promote cooperation and coordination between clinical service providers and providers of health, disability and community support services. The MHWA also requires mental health and wellbeing service providers to report to the Chief Psychiatrist the use of restrictive interventions on mental health wards (s 138), the performance of neurosurgery (s 123), and reportable deaths (s 741). Designated mental health services and other services Definitions A ‘ designated mental health service ’ is defined in section 3 of the MHWA to mean a prescribed public hospital, health service or other hospital within the meaning of section 3(1) of the Health Services Act 1988 (Vic) , the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (‘ Forensicare ’), or the Victorian Collaborative Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing. At the time of writing (1 December 2023), only the public hospitals and public health services that have psychiatric facilities in Victoria have been so prescribed. No private hospitals have been prescribed and therefore a person may only receive treatment there voluntarily. ‘ Mental health and wellbeing service provider ’ is defined (at s 3) to include an entity that receives funding from the state to provide a mental health and wellbeing service but does not include a designated mental health and wellbeing service or a publicly-funded mental health community support service, to the extent it provides services not funded by the National Disability Insurance Scheme. At least one authorised psychiatrist must be appointed at each designated mental health service (s 328). The authorised psychiatrist is effectively responsible for the person’s treatment in accordance with the MHWA. Services in the community Community-based mental health services offer services to people who have a mental illness, including those who have been in psychiatric inpatient services. Each designated mental health service has a crisis assessment and treatment team that assists with urgent situations, and some have other teams, such as a mobile support team for clients who are unable to access their mental health and wellbeing support services. The members of these teams are usually doctors or psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and social workers or psychologists. Inpatient services Inpatient services provide short-term and long- term care and treatment for people who may not be able to be treated successfully in the community. Most of Melbourne’s large metropolitan hospitals have a specialised psychiatric inpatient facility, as do the regional hospitals throughout Victoria. In addition, there are a number of specialised units such as mother and baby units, eating disorder units, psycho-geriatric facilities and the Thomas Embling forensic hospital. Consumer and community managed services A number of government and non-government services provide assistance for people with a mental illness in Victoria. They offer services including accommodation, counselling, support for relatives and friends, advocacy and self-help, and day centres. The Independent Mental Health Advocacy ( IMHA ) service is particularly relevant for