Ms Orla Keane:

If I could respond to Senator Hoey's question about advocacy, the Department took on board recommendations from the commission about increased statutory requirements about providing information, not just to involuntary patients, which have been extended, but also a specific statutory requirement to provide information to voluntary patients, which was not there before, and specific statutory requirements to provide information to children, adolescents and their parents in a manner which is understandable and comprehensible. It is important that the requirements have been extended and put into the legislation. In fairness to the Department, it took all of those recommendations on board.