Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to introduce Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Mental Health Act. The Mental Health Act covers patients who need to be hospitalized for treatment of mental disorders. The act is complex and has been amended twice. A number of amendments now being proposed are technical in nature. They deal with problems which have surfaced as the act was being used in the field.
We are proposing two major changes. The first deals with consent to treatment by involuntary patients. Involuntary patients are patients who are being detained because they suffer from mental disorder and may be dangerous either to others or to themselves. Right now, the act allows treatment to be administered to an involuntary patient without his or her consent. However, the courts have been threatening patients' rights to refuse treatment regardless of the patient's circumstances. In order to keep the act in line with developments in the law, we therefore propose to remove the authority to treat an involuntary patient without consent. As well, the department supports giving patients more say in the treatment which they will receive.
The second substantial change concerns the confidentiality of patients' hospital records. Currently, the act requires the patient's consent prior to release of any information about the treatment they receive or their plan of follow-up care from their hospital record. The preferred way is for the patient to sign the release of information. However, sometimes it is difficult to get the patient's consent, especially as quickly as it is often needed. The department has identified a need in these situations to provide information from patients' hospital records to health professionals who are treating or providing follow-up care to patients in the community.
Discharge and treatment plan information is essential if patients are to be supported in the community. Keeping patients in the community has many advantages, such as support from family and friends and similarity with the local language. The department is, therefore, proposing to remove the requirement of consent where a medical practitioner, a nurse or a psychologist working outside the hospital requires information about a patient's hospitalization in order to provide follow-up care to the patient once they have left the hospital. This information would be exchanged between the hospital and the community health professional. In many instances, this information would be in the way of a telephone call or a copy of discharge records. Discharge information is routinely provided to the referring nurse or a doctor for either type of illnesses.
The act provides for a safe-guard on the release of the information. Health professionals are regulated under legislation and have an ethical duty to maintain patient confidentiality. As well, the person in charge of a hospital has the final say as to whether the information should be released. Information would only be released to nurses or doctors who referred the patient in the first place, or a health professional responsible for providing follow-up care in the community.
In addition, we are proposing to provide for an informal process for choosing a substitute consent giver for the purpose of consenting to the release of an incompetent patient's hospital record. Currently, it is not clear who can give or withhold the consent to record release in the rare case where no substitute consent giver for treatment purposes has yet been formally appointed.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my comments. I am prepared to respond to any questions Members may have.