A WA parliamentary question on notice addresses the responsibility for mental health services in Perth following the abolition of the Metropolitan Health Service Board (MHSB), and raises concerns about patient treatment and neglect.

AnsweredQoN 25Legislative Council
Asked
19 February 2008
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

METROPOLITAN HEALTH SERVICE BOARD
Further to question without notice 1280, provided Thursday, 6 December 2007, I ask — (1) Is the Metropolitan Health Service Board responsible for the government’s mental health services in Perth? (2) Are staff who work in the above services employees of the MHSB? (3) When did the Minister for Health become the board of the MHSB and when did he cease to be the board of the MHSB? (4) Is the minister the employer of clinicians and other staff who work in the MHSB? (5) Does the minister dispute that section 162 of the Mental Health Act 1996 makes it an offence for any person having responsibility towards a person in the mental health system to ill-treat or wilfully neglect that patient? (6) Does the minister dispute that the Council of Official Visitors raised possible cases of wilful neglect or ill-treatment of mental health patients in its last three annual reports? Hon SUE ELLERY

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
(1) Is the Metropolitan Health Service Board responsible for the government’s mental health services in Perth? (2) Are staff who work in the above services employees of the MHSB? (3) When did the Minister for Health become the board of the MHSB and when did he cease to be the board of the MHSB? (4) Is the minister the employer of clinicians and other staff who work in the MHSB? (5) Does the minister dispute that section 162 of the Mental Health Act 1996 makes it an offence for any person having responsibility towards a person in the mental health system to ill-treat or wilfully neglect that patient? (6) Does the minister dispute that the Council of Official Visitors raised possible cases of wilful neglect or ill-treatment of mental health patients in its last three annual reports? Hon SUE ELLERY replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
(2) Are staff who work in the above services employees of the MHSB? (3) When did the Minister for Health become the board of the MHSB and when did he cease to be the board of the MHSB? (4) Is the minister the employer of clinicians and other staff who work in the MHSB? (5) Does the minister dispute that section 162 of the Mental Health Act 1996 makes it an offence for any person having responsibility towards a person in the mental health system to ill-treat or wilfully neglect that patient? (6) Does the minister dispute that the Council of Official Visitors raised possible cases of wilful neglect or ill-treatment of mental health patients in its last three annual reports? Hon SUE ELLERY replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
(3) When did the Minister for Health become the board of the MHSB and when did he cease to be the board of the MHSB? (4) Is the minister the employer of clinicians and other staff who work in the MHSB? (5) Does the minister dispute that section 162 of the Mental Health Act 1996 makes it an offence for any person having responsibility towards a person in the mental health system to ill-treat or wilfully neglect that patient? (6) Does the minister dispute that the Council of Official Visitors raised possible cases of wilful neglect or ill-treatment of mental health patients in its last three annual reports? Hon SUE ELLERY replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
(4) Is the minister the employer of clinicians and other staff who work in the MHSB? (5) Does the minister dispute that section 162 of the Mental Health Act 1996 makes it an offence for any person having responsibility towards a person in the mental health system to ill-treat or wilfully neglect that patient? (6) Does the minister dispute that the Council of Official Visitors raised possible cases of wilful neglect or ill-treatment of mental health patients in its last three annual reports? Hon SUE ELLERY replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
(5) Does the minister dispute that section 162 of the Mental Health Act 1996 makes it an offence for any person having responsibility towards a person in the mental health system to ill-treat or wilfully neglect that patient? (6) Does the minister dispute that the Council of Official Visitors raised possible cases of wilful neglect or ill-treatment of mental health patients in its last three annual reports? Hon SUE ELLERY replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
(6) Does the minister dispute that the Council of Official Visitors raised possible cases of wilful neglect or ill-treatment of mental health patients in its last three annual reports? Hon SUE ELLERY replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
Hon SUE ELLERY replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. (1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
(1)-(4) The Metropolitan Health Service Board was abolished in March 2001. With the abolition of the MHSB, the Minister for Health assumed the role formerly undertaken by the MHSB under section 7 of the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927, in an incorporated capacity as the board of all hospitals formerly under the control of the MHSB. Although the minister, in this incorporated capacity, is an employer of persons providing mental health services, other entities within the government’s health system in Western Australia also employ persons who provide mental health services. (5)-(6) No.
(5)-(6) No.

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