Question:
Discuss About The Practitioners In Health Addiction Support?
The World Health Organization (2014) statesthat, mental health services, refers to support and treatment services for mental illness, alcohol and drug addiction and chronic mental illness. All practitioners in mental health and addiction support services implement regulations, policies, legislation, codes, and standards that are relevant to the roles they occupy in a manner that supports the users of the service and their families.In 1996, The Mental Health Commissionwas established after recommendations from the Mason inquiry to monitor business implementation of mental health strategies in New Zealand (French, Old & Healy, 2001).
New Zealand’s Health and Disability Commissioneroffice is under amandate to protect the rights of mental health services consumers while promoting their independence and community participation (Manning, 2010). The Commissioner who is only responsible to the Minister of Health,is tasked with various functions such as developing a Code of Rights, promoting consumer rights, refer complaints for investigation, prepare advocacy services guidelines and to report relevant matters to the Minister of Health. The Health and Disability Services Consumers Rights Code 1996 protects all consumers who are receiving disability or health servicesin New Zealand based on ten rights. The Code places all organizations and their staff under an obligation to notify patients, consumers, and clients of their respective rights.
The code endows the consumer of mental health services the right to be respectfully treated in a manner that is free from coercion, discrimination, exploitation, and harassment. This service must also be provided in a such a way that it respects the individual’s independence and dignity. The code requires mental health and addiction support workers to provide standard services to patients in an ethical, legal and professional manner. Furthermore, effective communication channels that fully inform the mental patients and clients should be used. This is because all consumers have a right to accurate and honest answers in regard to their health. Consumers also have the right to give informed consent unless he or she is incompetent to do so. If the patient is not competent to make a choice, he or she may be allowed to make a decision to the extent of his or hercompetence level or another person who is entitled to make the informed decision may step in.
In particular, the purpose of these regulations includes to secure fair resolution of related complaints, facilitatethe Health and Disability Commissioner’s appointment, promulgation of the Code and other incidental matters such as education of both providers and consumers. In its effort to enforce the Code, various public funded educational campaigns aimed at sensitizing the public on the rights of mentally ill people have been launched by the New Zealand Ministry of Health. One of such, ‘Let’s get real’ initiative highlighted the essential attitudes,skills, andknowledge, that are necessary to deliver effective addiction and mental health services. This initiative is intended to improve the capability and competence of the mental health services practitioners. Another educational program, ‘Like minds. Like mine’ was launched in 1997 to help reduce discrimination and stigma that individuals with mental health illnesses face. Various surveys conducted to review the impact of the campaign show it has produced positive results in increasing the community’s mental illness awareness and reducing stigma (Thornicroft, Wyllie, Thornicroft & Mehta, 2014).
By definition, human rights are the fundamental rights or freedoms entitled to everyone. In NewZealand, human rights are promoted and protected by the country’sHuman Rights Act 1993 and also the Bill of Rights Act 1990. According tothe UN Charter and international agreements, human rights are a critical factor in mental health legislation. Equality and non-discrimination are among the keyrights that prevent degrading or inhuman treatment of mentally ill people (Freeman & Pathare, 2005). Regarding human rights, New Zealand’s legislation seeks to warrant that the same social, economic and cultural rights are enjoyed by all New Zealanders regardless of their mental health status or disability.
Established through this Act, the Human Rights Commission (HRC)is tasked with protecting and promoting the rights of all New Zealanders.The specific functions of the Commission include race relations, equal employment opportunities, rights under the Treaty of Waitangi, international human rights and rights of disabled people. In reference to the Human Rights Act, the Commission ensures that everyone in New Zealand inclusive of mentally ill individuals is treated equally and justly as illustrated in their vision for a fair, just and safe society that respects human rights and values diversity.
The Actthrough its policies tackles possible mediums of discrimination, resolution of disputes and at the same time prescribes fundamental rights and freedoms to mentally ill individuals. Rights includedare right to information and participation, right to treatment and access to care, equality right, right torequest legal advice,right to education, right to company among others.The rights to information and education extends to mentally ill children with special educational needs and their integration in learning institutions (Howie, 2010). Although the Bill of Rights Act 1990 gives consumers a right to refuse treatment, this right is not straight forward in mental health and addiction services due to regulations in the Alcoholism and Drug addiction Act 1966, Intellectual Disability Act 2003 andthe Mental Health Act 1992.
This Act was established for the health sector so as to protect and promote the privacy of people by establishingprinciples on the use,disclosure or collection of a consumer’s personal information by private or public agencies (Commissioner, 2017). It also facilitates a complaint and resolution mechanism that regulates matching and transmission of data. Support workers in addiction and mental healthsupport services are obligated to follow all the requirements of the Privacy Act when interacting with their patients.
The Privacy Act gives the Privacy Commissioner power to formulate codes of practice that may become law and is comprised of twelve privacy principles related to the rights of individuals. Functions of the Privacy Commissioner’s office include investigating privacy related complaints, educating the public and other stakeholders on privacy issues, developing industry and sector codes of practice and making inquiries into situations that suggest breaches of individual privacy. In relation tothe addiction and mental health support services, the Commission is mandated to provide regulations that govern the interaction between the government, health institutions and the individual seeking mental health services. The Health Information Privacy Code 1994 suggests rules that govern the health sector.
When providing mental health and addiction support services, mental health practitioners must ensure that patients understand the information that is required of them, thepurpose of the information, who is collecting the information and their authorization. Once the information is collected, the individuals have a right to accesses their information or request corrections.If the patient is not mentally competent, theirdata may be obtained from appointed representatives. Information must, however,be collected through lawful and fair methods and not using unreasonable intrusion. In relation to this requirement of the Privacy Act, the Mental Health Act 1992 prohibits the recording of patients by use of audiotapes and videotapes. Furthermore, the respective health organizations are under obligation to secure the information collected against misuse or loss.
People with mental disorders are a vulnerable sector of our society because of the discrimination and stigma they face. Therefore, to reduce chances of violation on their human rights, legislation on mental health is necessary (Pathare, 2003). Data collected by the World Health Organization (2014) confirms that in the 1990s. New Zealand overhauled its mental services by moving care to the community and subsequently closing large mental hospitals. The Mental Health Act 1992 was therefore established to protect the patients’ rights and provide a legal framework for tackling crucial issues related to mental health.
The Act is purposed to define the situations under which compulsory assessment or treatment is prudent, ensure the public and vulnerable individuals are protected, guarantee the rights of proposed and diagnosed patients, provide a clinical practice legal framework and to promote accountability in the sector. In accordance with a Ministry of Health (2012) guideline, specific powers granted by the Act enable practitioners to conduct compulsory assessment or treatment in certain limited situations and permits thereasonable exercise of force. The Act also defines the roles and power limits of judges, medical practitioners,andauthorized officers.
Individuals charged or convicted of an offense but show an intellectual disability or mental disorder may under the Mental Health Act 1992 (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment), be compelled to accept involuntary care and rehabilitation.The court makes a Special Patient Order requiring the individual to acceptrehabilitation and treatment. Compulsory treatment may also be required of people who despite not committing a criminal offense, pose a danger to themselves and the society as a result of diminished mental health (Callaghan Ryan, 2012). Patients under this Act are protected by a list of eleven fundamental rights prescribed under the Mental health Act. These rights compliment all other rights found in the Code of Health and Disability Consumers’ Rights 1992 and the Bill of Rights Act 1990. If an individual detained in prison requires mental health care, the Department of Corrections along with a Director Mental Health Services may by sections 45 and 46 transfer the individual to a secure health facility. Likewise, the person can transfer back to prison when he/she is no longer in need of treatment.A special patient may also be moved to a specialized care facility under the instructions of the Director.
In summary, when an individual experience mental illness, they have the right to make their treatment related decisions. However, this right can be overridden under the Mental Health Act (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) if the mentally ill individual does not willfully accept treatment or if he/she poses a threat to others. There exist avenues to challenge the compulsory treatment order or to lodge complaints regarding rights.
References
Callaghan, S., & Ryan, C. J. (2012). Rising to the human rights challenge in compulsory treatment–new approaches to mental health law in Australia. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 46(7), 611-620.
Commissioner, O. (2017). Office of the Privacy Commissioner | Home. Privacy.org.nz. Retrieved 11 September 2017, from https://www.privacy.org.nz
Freeman, Management, & Pathare, S. (2005). WHO resource book on mental health, human rights and legislation. World Health Organization.
French, S., Old, A., Healy, J., & World Health Organization. (2001). Health care systems in transition: New Zealand.
Health and Disability Commissioner (2017). Hdc.org.nz. Retrieved 11 September 2017, from https://www.hdc.org.nz
Howie, D. (2010). A comparative study of the positioning of children with special educational needs in the legislation of Britain, New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(8), 755-776.
Manning, J. (2010). Access to justice for New Zealand health consumers. J Law Med, 18(1), 178-94.
Mental Health Act. (2017). Cab.org.nz. Retrieved 11 September 2017, from https://www.cab.org.nz/vat/hw/leg/Pages/MentalHealthAct.aspx
Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 No 46 (as at 22 August 2017), Public Act – New Zealand Legislation. (2017). Legislation.govt.nz. Retrieved 11 September 2017, from https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0046/latest/whole.html
Mental Health Commission. (2004). Our Lives in 2014: A recovery vision from people with experience of mental illness.Auckland:Mental Health Foundation.
Ministry of Health. 2012. Guidelines to the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992. Wellington: Ministry of Health
NZ Human Rights – Human Rights Commission. (2017). Hrc.co.nz. Retrieved 11 September 2017, from https://www.hrc.co.nz
Pathare, S. (2003). Mental health legislation & human rights (Vol. 5). World Healthcare Organization.
Privacy Act 1993 No 28 (as at 31 August 2017), Public Act Contents – New Zealand Legislation. (2017). Legislation.govt.nz. Retrieved 11 September 2017, from https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0028/latest/DLM296639.html
Thornicroft, C., Wyllie, A., Thornicroft, G., & Mehta, N. (2014). Impact of the “Like Minds, Like Mine” anti-stigma and discrimination campaign in New Zealand on anticipated and experienced discrimination. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 48(4), 360-370.
World Health Organization. (2014). New Zealand health system review. Manila: WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific.
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