Abstract
During registrar training I had the privilege of working in the interim secure unit at Friern Hospital in London. To gain further experience in the field of forensic psychiatry, I secured (if that is an appropriate term), a post as trainee psychiatrist at James Nash House, centre for forensic psychiatry, Adelaide, South Australia. This article compares the legal and health care frameworks in England and South Australia relevant to mentally abnormal offenders. The two units are described and differences in facilities, patient populations and working practices are discussed.
Highlights
After two weeks good behaviour, we were allowed home to our families, who seemed to have forgotten who we were
V beckoned at 9.00 a.m. on Bank Holiday Monday morning, and we were all there! We set about putting our newly acquired skills into practice to the eant coothuerargpeemoepnlet'sabnudsignreosasness, oefspoeucriatlelaychoevresr. thLeoowkeienkg end, while the sun shines outside is a sore test of dedication, but it meant time with other course mem bers whose skills in areas such as accountancy and computer manipulations were quite humbling, as was their willingness to work late into the evening, weekdays and weekends
I emerged from Ashridge a fitter if fatter individual who had learnt about such ephemera as Total Quality Management, Shamrock organisations
Summary
The states of Australia have separate mental health acts and judicial systems. Some have a criminal law code, but South Australia still refers to English law for the basis of its legal system. The South Australia Mental Health Act (SAMHA), 1976-79, and the Mental Health Act, England and Wales (MHA) 1983, have origin in the 1959 Mental Health Act, England and Wales. Both acts make provision for the detention in hospital of a person suffering from mental illness, mental health review tribunals, and guardianship. In South Australia the power to transfer prisoners for voluntary psychiatric treatment in hos pthitealSdAeMrivHeAs frmomaythbeecurismedinatol l'adwetaaicnts.pIrnisoandedristi'onto, James Nash House. All such individuals transferred to hospital remain prisoners within the wider correctional system
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