Department of Health Library Services ePublications - Historical Collection
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Northern Territory Department of Health Library Services Historical Collection
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HISTORICAL COLLECTION
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MENTAL HEALTH AC· T
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ANNUAL REPORT 1985/86
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NORTHERN TERRITORY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
MENTAL HEALTH ACT ANNUAL REPORT
1985/86
ISSN 0818 5581
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1
-ANNUAL REPORT AS REQUIRED BY SECTION 41 OF THE MENTAL HEALTH ACT
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Psychiatric care in the Northern Territory is provided by the Department of Health. goth the Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) and Alice Springs Hospital (ASH) have psychiatric units which admit patients under Mental Health legislation.
As persons who are psychiatrically i l l are sometimes unable to give informed consent to their own treatment, the care of these patients is given legal basis in the provisions of the Mental Health Act.
The medical profession is given authority by a magistrate to take a person into care under section 7 of the Act and to keep him in care by means of an order under section 13 of the Act. In an emergency, a person can be taken into immediate care by a police officer or a medical practitioner, but a magistrate's concurrence must be sought as soon as practicable· ( section 9 refers) . The Mental Health Act details the necessary steps which must be taken by personnel involved to ensure that the civil liberties of the patient are protected.
Psychiatric patients who are legally capable of giving informed consent to treatment are not subject to the Mental Heal th Act.
These patients are described as voluntary patients. Statistics are kept on these patients as well as on involuntary patients because the one person may be in both categories during the course of his or her treatment.
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2
ACUTE - CARE PATIENTS
The table below shows that during 1985/86, there were 672 admissions to psychiatric wards in Northern Territory hospitals.
One-fifth (20.4%) were admitted in accordance with the provisions of the Mental Health Act.
ADMISSION STATUS
Voluntary Involuntary
TOTAL
TABLE 1
ROYAL DARWIN HOSPITAL
369 103
472
ALICE SPRINGS HOSPITAL
166 34
200
TOTAL
535 137
672
Table 2 shows that th.e majority (59.5%) of both voluntary and involuntary patients had previously been admitted to a mental hospital or other psychiatric inpatient facility.
TABLE 2
VOLUNTARY INVOLUNTARY TOTAL
Previously 321 79 400
Admitted
No Previous 208 56 264
Admissions
Not Recorded 6 2 8
TOTAL 535 137 672
3
As was to be expected, the sections of the Act that were most frequently utilised were those which concerned taking a person into custody (ie, sections 7, 8 and 9). Table 3 provides these details. The largest group of involuntary patients (33.9%) were admitted without a formal warrant in accordance with the provisions of section 9 of the Act, which enables a police officer or medical pract.i tioner to take a person into custody without a warrant in an emergency situation.
The majority (115) of involuntary patients had only one instance of detention under the Mental Heal th Act. Sixteen involuntary patients had two orders/warrants placed on them, and six patients had three orders/warrants.
TABLE 3
SECTION* NUMBER APPLIED
Section 7 42
Section 8 41
Section 9 56
Section 13 19
Section 14 5
Section 24 1
Section 27 1
TOTAL 165**
NOTES
* 7 - Warrant to take person into custody 8 - Telephone application for warrant 9 - Taken into custody without a warrant 13 - Order to hold person in custody
PERCENT
25.5 24.9 33.9 11. 5 3.0 0.6 0.6
100.0
14 Order to authorise treatment of a person while in custody
** 165 warrants/orders were used to admit 137 patients (i.e.
some patients received more than one warrant/order)
4
Table 4 shows that more males than females were admitted to psychiatric wards in 1985/86. This is in line with figures from previous years. Given this disparity, males and females experienced similar rates of involuntary admissions.
Male Female
Not Recorded
TOTAL
VOLUNTARY
305 222
8
535
TABLE 4
INVOLUNTARY
81 56
137
TOTAL
386 278
8
672
Slight differences occurred between rates of involuntary admissions of Aborigines and Non-aborigines with the latter being slightly higher ( 26 per 100 Aboriginal versus 19 per 100 Non- aboriginal involuntary admissions).
Aboriginal Non-aboriginal Not Recorded
TOTAL
VOLUNTARY
78 450
7
535
TABLE 5
INVOLUNTARY
28 109
137
TOTAL
106 559
7
672
5
Table 6 shows that the majority (65.9%) of patients admitted to the psychiatric wards were aged between 20 and 39 years. More young patients were admitted in accordance with the Mental Health Act. For instance, 43. 8% of the involuntary patients compared with 31.4% of the voluntary patients were aged between 10 and 29 years.
TABLE 6
AGE GROUP (YEARS) VOLUNTARY INVOLUNTARY TOTAL
0 to 9 2 2
10 to 19 30 14 44
20 to 29 138 46 184
30 to 39 213 46 259
40 to 49 82 16 98
50 to 59 33 8 41
60 to 69 26 4 30
70 to 79 1 1
Not Recorded 10 3 13
TOTAL 535 137 672
6
Schizophrenic psychoses occurred more frequently in both groups.
Involuntary patients, compared with voluntary patients, were relatively more likely to be diagnosed as having affective psychoses or alcoholic psychoses. The details shown at Table 7.
DIAGNOSIS (ICD9 CODE)
Schizophrenic psychoses (295) Neurotic disorders (300)
Personality disorders (301) Affective psychoses (295) Alcohol dependence
syndrome (303)
Depressive disorder (311) Alcoholic psychoses (291) Other nonorganic
psychoses (298) Other
Not Recorded*
TOTAL
* Diagnosis unavailable
TABLE 7
VOLUNTARY NO. ( % )
123(23.0) 89(16.6) 59(11.0) 42( 7. 9)
46( 8.6) 37( 6.9) 16( 3.0)
10( 1.9) 72(13.5) 41( 7.6)
535(100.0)
INVOLUNTARY NO. ( % )
37(27.0) 2 ( 1. 5) 16(11.7) 20(14.6)
4( 2. 9) 1 ( 0.7) 11( 8.0)
5( 3.6) 32(23.4) 9( 6.6)
137(100.0)
TOTAL NO (%)
160(23.9) 91(13.5) 75(11.2) 62( 9. 2)
50( 7.4) 38( 5. 7) 27( 4.0)
15( 2. 2) 104(15.5) 50( 7.4)
672(100.0)
7
LONG-TERM PATIENTS
In 1985/86 there were 12 patients in South Australian mental health institutions who were originally transferred to that State by an order issued under Northern Territory legislation. These patients were reviewed at six-monthly periods by a Northern Territory magistrate. All of these patients have been institutionalised for many years, and all have been diagnosed as being intellectually disabled.
In 1985/86 an additional 23 psychiatric or intellectually disabled patients, for whom no formal orders were current, were under institutional care in South Australia.
Both of these groups are the financial responsibility of the Northern Territory Government. Legally, they are subject to the mental health legislation of South Australia.
Other long-term patients for whom six month orders were regularly reviewed were two intellectually disabled patients at the Chan Park Private Nursing Home in Darwin, and two patients in the maximum security facility at the Royal Darwin Hospital.
