Community Visitors Friends or Foe Leonie Swift Jim

Community Visitors: Friends or Foe? Leonie Swift & Jim Paterson 13 June 2012

Office of the Pubic Advocate The Office of the Public Advocate (OPA) is an independent statutory body established by the Victorian state government to protect and promote the interests, rights and dignity of people with a disability.

Your experience of Community Visitors

Community Visitors – Who are they? • Governor-in-Council appointees under 3 Acts - Disability Act 2006 - Health Services Act 1988 - Mental Health Act 1986 • Volunteers from a variety of backgrounds • Police checked and trained before visiting

Mental Health CVs: Where do they visit? • Mental Health residential services with 24 hour nursing care • Acute, adult long term, aged mental health, child & adolescent, CCUs, & other specialist units • Emergency Departments (not PARCs or private hospitals)

Mental Health CVs – Obligations under the Act • must visit at least once a month • can inspect any part of the premises • see any person • enquire into adequacy of services & facilities admission, treatment, and care • inspect any document or medical record required to be kept under the Act (MHA S 112)

Providers - Obligations under the Act • Must provide reasonable assistance to CVs (MHA s 112 (2)) • Give “full and true answers” to any questions. (MHA s 112 (3)) • Guilty of offence if don’t or if obstruct, hinder or intimidate CVs (s 112) • If a request to see a CV, person in charge must advise a request has been made within 7 days. (MHA s 113 (2))

Mental Health CVs : What do they do? • Visit unannounced, generally in pairs • Respond to referrals from OPA’s Advice Service In 2010 -11: 60 Mental Health CVs made 1, 466 visits

Mental Health CVs: What do they do? • Observe and talk with patients/staff • Write a report on each visit • Discuss with Unit Manager or Senior staff person before leaving • Liaise with service managers to address issues • Contribute to annual report to Parliament

Impact of CVP activity • Individual and systemic advocacy • Long stay patient project → secure step down beds. • Gender based sensitivity initiatives • Enquiry into deaths in mental health services • Victorian Government response to the CVP annual report - additional funding for mental health services.

Questions and Comments

For more information. . . OPA Advice Service 1300 309 337 www. publicadvocate. vic. gov. au Multilingual publications available online