S.TRUEMAN PhD THESIS 2016

235

health patient’s residential address to provide care. As one remote nurse participant said concerning attending the home a ‘known’ violent mental health patient: So as a team we [remote nurses] decided that we wouldn’t see him [mental health patient] alone. The police were happy to accompany us if we had to see him after hours. We discussed it with them [police officers] as well. [T20, p. 14] A police officer added: They would then call us [police officers] and obviously depending upon what the injuries are … is treated at the actual nurses’ private accommodation or is taken to the clinic. [T25, p. 4] Hence there may be a multitude of reasons for police needing to attend after hours, including a history of violence and aggression, or a history of non-compliance, lack of insight into the necessity for treatment or where the mental health patient is not well known to the remote nurses. Giving depot medication pursuant to an Involuntary Treatment Order could be a frequent example. As a remote police officer participant stated: If it’s somebody who they [remote nurses] know is poorly then yes, they will attend … We [police officers] sometimes then get a call saying, ‘Look, I’m not too comfortable with this [attending a residence at night alone]. So-and-so with mental health issues has gone off. Can you attend?’ Yes, we will go. [T25, p. 10] The final reason for contact between police officers and remote nurses in the delivery of mental healthcare relates to the detained mental health patient. Across each jurisdiction in Australia, pursuant to the various Mental Health Acts, a mental health patient under certain circumstances can be detained against their will, and may be forcibly admitted to a designated inner regional or metropolitan located mental health facility.