Carer Participation under the Mental Health Act 2007

The following is a summary of ARAFMI NSW's submission to NSW Health on the implementation of carer participation under the primary carer provisions of the Mental Health Act 2007.

To view the full report, please click on the attachment below.

You can also contact us to give your opinion on the submission. We would love to hear from you, and all messages are treated confidentially.

Executive Summary

Mental Health Carers ARAFMI NSW (ARAFMI NSW) undertook a survey of its NSW carer members about their experience of dealing with NSW Health (Health) services since the introduction in November 2007 of the amended Mental Health Act (the Act), which recognised the role of Primary Carers for the first time. These consultations have pointed to some significant improvements in aspects of the way in which carers are involved in their loved ones care, but it has also indicated some areas which require further work before the intent of the legislative changes can be fully realised.

These findings prompted ARAFMI NSW to undertake further policy research to develop a Report for the information of NSW Health on these issues including:

• analysis of the policy reasoning behind some of the changes to the Mental Health Act recognising the role of Primary Carers;
• reviewing some commonly encountered attitudes towards the way Primary Carer laws should be put into practice by health professionals; and,
• analysing the Health Policy Directives on Discharge Planning to assess the degree to which Health‟s policies and guidelines have facilitated the Act‟s proposed solutions to long standing carer issues.

ARAFMI NSW has concluded that the attitudes towards the implementation of Primary Carer laws by health professionals demonstrate an understandably cautious attitude to the new legislation due to the complexity of related legal issues; and that some of Health‟s Policy Directives do not yet seem to fully reflect the recent changes to the Mental Health Act or the policy rationale to which they were meant to give effect.

ARAFMI NSW recommends a review of existing Policy Directives and the development of new frameworks to facilitate the innovative approach to the empowerment of carers envisaged by the Act and Health‟s policies generally. This could be done as part of the current project of "The Mental Health Program Council‟ (MHPC) to develop a Framework for Consumer, Carer and Community Participation in Mental Health Services in New South Wales and in the development of Policy Directives for the guidance of clinicians around the intended operation of the new Act.