South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts (1) The Minister, the
Board, the Chief Psychiatrist, health professionals and other persons and
bodies involved in the administration of this Act are to be guided by the
following principles in the performance of their functions:
(a)
mental health services should be designed to bring about the best therapeutic
outcomes for patients, and, as far as possible, their recovery and
participation in community life;
(b) the
services should be provided on a voluntary basis as far as possible, and
otherwise in the least restrictive way and in the least restrictive
environment that is consistent with their efficacy and public safety, and at
places as near as practicable to where the patients, or their families or
other carers or supporters, reside;
(c) the
services should—
(i)
be governed by comprehensive treatment and care plans
that are developed in a multi-disciplinary framework in consultation with the
patients (including children) and their family or other carers or supporters;
and
(ii)
take into account the different developmental stages of
children and young persons and the needs of the aged; and
(iii)
take into account the different cultural backgrounds of
patients; and
(iv)
in the case of patients of Aboriginal or Torres Strait
Islander descent, take into account the patients' traditional beliefs and
practices and, when practicable and appropriate, involve collaboration with
health workers and traditional healers from their communities;
(d)
there should be regular medical examination of every patient's mental and
physical health and regular medical review of any order applying to the
patient;
(e)
children and young persons should be cared for and treated separately from
other patients as necessary to enable the care and treatment to be tailored to
their different developmental stages;
(f) the
rights, welfare and safety of the children and other dependants of patients
should always be considered and protected as far as possible;
(g)
medication should be used only for therapeutic purposes or safety reasons and
not as a punishment or for the convenience of others;
(h)
mechanical body restraints and seclusion should be used only as a last resort
for safety reasons and not as a punishment or for the convenience of others;
(i)
patients (together with their family or other carers or
supporters) should be provided with comprehensive information about their
illnesses, any orders that apply to them, their legal rights, the treatments
and other services that are to be provided or offered to them and what
alternatives are available;
(j)
information should be provided in a way that ensures as far as practicable
that it can be understood by those to whom it is provided.
(2) In this
section—
"mental health services" means all services involved in the treatment, care
and rehabilitation of persons with serious mental illness, including the
making and carrying out of orders under this Act and services to assist the
recovery of patients after the termination of the orders or the completion of
treatment.