There are various ways you can be taken to a public mental health facility or emergency department for further assessment under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW). This may happen against your will.
This section explains the different ways a person can be admitted to hospital as an involuntary patient:
After you are taken to hospital, there is an assessment process before you can be held as an involuntary patient. For more about this, click here
The most common way of being admitted to hospital under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) is on the basis of a medical certificate or ‘Schedule 1’, written by your general practitioner or a doctor at a hospital (often an emergency department) who has seen you and thinks you need to be in public mental health facility. This is where the term ‘scheduled’ comes from.
The Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) allows the NSW Government to appoint ‘accredited persons’ who are not doctors who can schedule you. These accredited persons undergo specific training before they can be appointed. They are usually staff members of local community mental health teams. They exist so that in rural and remote areas, where there are often no doctors available at short notice, there is a way for a person to be initially detained under the Act in an emergency.
The certificate can only be written if the doctor or accredited person:
The certificate also enables a doctor or accredited person to examine or observe your condition by videoconference for the purpose of determining whether to issue a mental health certificate (including a Schedule 1 medical certificate).
If a doctor or accredited person thinks that you should go to hospital, you can agree to get there yourself or with help from friends or relatives. If you cannot organise this, an ambulance may be arranged, or the police may be asked to take you to hospital against your will.
A Designated CarerA designated carer is someone who is entitled to certain information about a consumer’s care and treatment and to be notified of certain events. A designated carer may also be a principal care provider (see below). A designated carer is nominated by the consumer but in many instances identified by treating clinicians as the person or persons who should be consulted about the person’s care and treatment planning and be informed about any related matters such as hearings, medication, discharge and recovery progress. Consumers can now nominate up to two designated carers. A designated carer can also be a person who is a close relative or friend who has frequent contact and interest in the care of a person with a mental health condition. The ‘relative’ of a person who is an Aboriginal or Torres Islander includes a person who is part of the extended family or kin of a person according to the indigenous kinship system of the person’s culture. More, Principal Care ProviderPrincipal care provider (who may also be a designated carer) is the person primarily responsible for providing support or care to a consumer (though not on a commercial basis).The principal care provider is entitled to the same information as a designated carer (unless excluded from being given information by the consumer).They are persons entitled to be informed of a range of matters about the person for whom they provide care, including about their admission, aspects of treatment and discharge. More, relative or friend can make a written request to the Authorised Medical OfficerAn Authorised Medical Officer is either the medical superintendent of a declared mental health facility, or a doctor who has been nominated by the medical superintendent to fulfil certain responsibilities and make certain decisions under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW). These responsibilities can include assessment of patients, care and treatment of people who are mentally ill or mentally disordered and decisions about discharge. More of a public mental health facility that you be taken to hospital. In regional areas where it may be difficult to get a doctor to come and see you, it is important to know that these people in your life can make such a request.
The Authorised Medical OfficerAn Authorised Medical Officer is either the medical superintendent of a declared mental health facility, or a doctor who has been nominated by the medical superintendent to fulfil certain responsibilities and make certain decisions under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW). These responsibilities can include assessment of patients, care and treatment of people who are mentally ill or mentally disordered and decisions about discharge. More must not detain you on such a request unless he or she is satisfied that, because of the distance required in order for you to be examined and the urgency of the circumstances, it is not reasonably practicable to have you detained based on a mental health certificate.
In regional areas, it often is very difficult to get a doctor to come and see you. If a relative or friend brings you to a public mental health facility, they can then make a written request to the authorised medical officerAn Authorised Medical Officer is either the medical superintendent of a declared mental health facility, or a doctor who has been nominated by the medical superintendent to fulfil certain responsibilities and make certain decisions under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW). These responsibilities can include assessment of patients, care and treatment of people who are mentally ill or mentally disordered and decisions about discharge. More that you be involuntarily admitted.
mentally ill or mentally disordered as defined under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) and they reasonably believe that you:
Police can enter your home without a warrant to do this.
Police can also be ordered by a magistrate to take you to hospital.
If an ambulance officer believes on reasonable grounds that you are mentally ill or mentally disordered as defined under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW), and that it would be beneficial for your welfare to be dealt with under that Act, they can take you to a public mental health facility.
The ambulance officer can ask the police for help to do this if they are worried about your safety and the safety of others without police. For example, if you aggressively resist the ambulance’s attempts to take you to hospital, they may call the police.
If you have to go to the Local Court because you have been charged with a criminal offence and the magistrate believes that you could be a mentally ill personA mentally ill person is defined in the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) as a “person suffering from mental illness and, owing to that illness, there are reasonable grounds for believing that care and treatment of the person is necessary for the person’s own protection from serious harm, or for the protection of others from serious harm”. Under the Act, mental illness means a condition that seriously impairs, either temporarily or permanently, the mental functioning of a person. They may experience delusions, hallucinations, serious disorder of thought form, a severe disturbance of mood or sustained or repeated irrational behaviour indicating the presence of any one or more of the symptoms already listed. More as defined under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW), the magistrate can order the police to take you to hospital for assessment.
An authorised officer under the Bail Act 2013 (NSW), known as a ‘Bail Officer’ may also order that police take you to a mental health facility for assessment if it appears to the Bail Officer that you are a mentally ill personA mentally ill person is defined in the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) as a “person suffering from mental illness and, owing to that illness, there are reasonable grounds for believing that care and treatment of the person is necessary for the person’s own protection from serious harm, or for the protection of others from serious harm”. Under the Act, mental illness means a condition that seriously impairs, either temporarily or permanently, the mental functioning of a person. They may experience delusions, hallucinations, serious disorder of thought form, a severe disturbance of mood or sustained or repeated irrational behaviour indicating the presence of any one or more of the symptoms already listed. More.
If you are not assessed as being a mentally ill personA mentally ill person is defined in the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) as a “person suffering from mental illness and, owing to that illness, there are reasonable grounds for believing that care and treatment of the person is necessary for the person’s own protection from serious harm, or for the protection of others from serious harm”. Under the Act, mental illness means a condition that seriously impairs, either temporarily or permanently, the mental functioning of a person. They may experience delusions, hallucinations, serious disorder of thought form, a severe disturbance of mood or sustained or repeated irrational behaviour indicating the presence of any one or more of the symptoms already listed. More, or a mentally disordered personIn the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW), a mentally disordered person is someone whose behaviour for the time being is so irrational as to justify a conclusion on reasonable grounds that temporary care and, treatment or control of the person is necessary for the person’s own protection from serious physical harm or for the protection of others from serious physical harm. More at the mental health facility, you are likely to be taken back into custody and brought before the Magistrate or Bail Officer in relation to the offences with which you are charged.
If a magistrate is satisfied that you may be mentally ill or mentally disordered under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) and you could not be personally examined because you were physically difficult to reach, then the magistrate can order:
The police can, in these circumstances, enter your home without a warrant.
You can be transferred from a health facility to a public mental health facility and detained if the medical officer of the health facility or the Authorised Medical OfficerAn Authorised Medical Officer is either the medical superintendent of a declared mental health facility, or a doctor who has been nominated by the medical superintendent to fulfil certain responsibilities and make certain decisions under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW). These responsibilities can include assessment of patients, care and treatment of people who are mentally ill or mentally disordered and decisions about discharge. More of the public mental health facility believes you are mentally ill or mentally disordered under the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW).
While a Schedule 1 is not required, the reasons for your transfer and the conclusion that you are considered mentally ill or mentally disordered should be recorded.
Updated March 13, 2020
