Guidance for Directors of Area Mental Health Services, compulsory care coordinators, care managers, victim coordinators.
These guidelines replace the Ministry of Health’s Victims’ Rights Act 2002 Guidelines 2018: For Directors of Area Mental Health Services, compulsory care coordinators and health victim coordinators published in November 2018.
The guidelines are intended to assist Directors of Area Mental Health Services, compulsory care coordinators or victims’ coordinators within mental health and intellectual disability services in undertaking their victim notification obligations.
The Victims’ Rights Act 2002 outlines exceptions to the Privacy Act 1993 allowing registered victims of people detained in a hospital or care facility for assessment or treatment of their mental health or intellectual disability needs to receive certain notifications about the detained person.
This includes the right to be given notice of various stages of leave from hospital/facility, discharge from hospital, and applications to the Mental Health Review Tribunal. Victims must also be told as soon as practicable if the patient is absent without official leave, dies or their sentence ends.