Posted on

A revised Form 7—better for patient rights?

Involuntary patients have the right to ask for a hearing with a review panel if they want to challenge their certification. To do so, they (or someone on their behalf) must fill out Form 7.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of the Attorney General, together with the Ministry of Health and the Mental Health Review Board, revised Form 7, partly in response to the Community Legal Assistance Society’s report Operating in Darkness, which was critical of many aspects of the Mental Health Act and how it was implemented in practice. In May, the Mental Health Review Board announced “that after several months of consultations, our new Form 7 ‘Application for Review Panel Hearing’ has received Cabinet approval by way of an Order in Council approved on May 15, 2018.” Continue reading “A revised Form 7—better for patient rights?”

Posted on

Mental Health Act rights materials are now available through Vancouver Coastal Health

Vancouver Coastal Health branded version of the wallet card

Vancouver Coastal Health has approved a VCH-branded version of our rights materials for its Patient Health Education Materials Resource Catalogue.

Anyone, including members of the public, can find PDFs of these materials by searching the catalogue for “Your Rights under BC’s Mental Health Act.” VCH staff can order printed copies through the printing services website.

The materials are also branded with the Providence Health Care logo and can be ordered by PHC staff.

Beyond asking us to add logos, VCH also asked us to make a black & white version of our pamphlet to save on printing costs. We’ve made such a pamphlet available, but we urge staff to order colour pamphlets if possible: many participants in our user testing specifically asked for our documents to have colour, and colour would make the pamphlet more memorable among the many black & white forms that involuntary patients see when they are first hospitalized.