How can the Act provide more treatment in the community and still protect the public effectively?
People with even serious mental disorders are much more likely to pose a risk to themselves than to the public at large. It will still be possible to detain people in hospital where that is necessary because of the risk posed by their mental disorder either to themselves or other people. But it will now be possible for some of those people to be discharged onto supervised community treatment – meaning they can continue their treatment in the community, subject to the possibility of being recalled to hospital if necessary. That will help ensure that they continue to get the treatment they need, and help break the so-called “revolving door” cycle of people being discharged from hospital, losing contact with services, and then having to be detained again as a result.
