Draft revisions to the Guidelines to the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992

Overview

The Ministry of Health is currently seeking feedback on proposed draft revisions to the Guidelines for the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992.  These Guidelines are intended to assist providers and statutory officials in their application of the legislation, however they can also be useful for individuals and family and whānau to understand the processes and their rights under the Act.  

Initially a targeted list of stakeholders and groups representing people with lived experience, Māori, Pasifika, providers, and those who have statutory roles or powers under the legislation were contacted to provide feedback on 12 November.  Due to a significant expression of interest from the public we are now inviting feedback from any interested parties who wish to comment, and the deadline for feedback is being extended to Friday 17 January.  We do encourage group or joint submissions where possible, but also welcome individual submissions.

Submitting feedback

You can submit your feedback using this online form. At any point you can save your progress on the form, by selecting the 'Save and come back later' button at the bottom of each page. Alternatively you can email your feedback through to heather.raeburn@health.govt.nz.

Proposed revisions

The proposed revisions attempt to address issues identified through both He Ara Oranga, as well as ones identified in the mental health and human rights assessment conducted by the Ministry in 2017, as part of the 2014-2018 Disability Action Plan. These issues include the need for greater incorporation of patient-centred models of care, supported decision-making, improved family/whānau consultations and greater cultural responsiveness. The revision of these Guidelines is not intended as a substitute to repealing and replacing the current legislation, though it is expected the revisions will complement the future direction of the new legislation. We are also working on longer term legislation changes, however this is a step that we can take in the meantime.

The proposed revisions are available in Word and PDF formats, with both clean and track changes versions.

Clean versions

• Proposed draft Mental Health Act Guidelines Revisions - clean (Word, 436 KB)
• Proposed draft Mental Health Act Guidelines Revisions - clean (PDF, 945 KB)

Track changes versions

• Proposed draft Mental Health Act Guidelines Revisions - track changes (Word, 506 KB)
• Proposed draft Mental Health Act Guidelines Revisions - track changes (PDF, 1 MB)