Check Queensland inpatient seclusion against the written authorisation limits
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the inpatient notes, mark a seclusion against the section 256 conditions and the section 258 written authorisation, including the three-hour period and the observation interval. Do not apply those sections to mechanical restraint, and do not decide that the seclusion was unlawful.
- What the lawyer must review
- The lawyer decides whether the patient is a relevant patient.
- The opened sections cover seclusion, not mechanical restraint.
- The lawyer reads sections 257, 259, 263 and 267 before treating the named conditions as the whole rule.
- Health information stays in a firm-controlled tool, not a public one.
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. Queensland. Seclusion of a relevant patient in an authorised mental health service. Mechanical restraint is outside this version.
Produce. A marked seclusion row against the section 256 conditions and the section 258 written authorisation.
Have ready. Seclusion authorisation; Observation record; Any direction or plan the notes mention.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The notes show seclusion for 4 hours on one authorisation. The tool marks the 3-hour limit and stops. The lawyer decides whether the patient was a relevant patient and whether a plan changed the 9-hour total. The tool does not decide the seclusion was unlawful.
Stop and hand it back when
- The row is about mechanical restraint.
- The tool defines a relevant patient from an unopened section.
Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Do not begin AI assistance until the responsible lawyer has defined and confirmed its permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- The sections apply to a relevant patient. Do not define that term. The definition was not opened.
- Section 256 allows an authorised doctor, or a health practitioner authorised by an authorised doctor, to keep the relevant patient in seclusion in the authorised mental health service only if the seclusion is authorised under section 258 or section 259, any section 257 direction is met, the restraint and seclusion policy is met, any approved section 267 plan is met, no more force is used than is necessary and reasonable, and the patient is observed continuously or at intervals of not more than 15 minutes.
- Observation is continuous or at intervals of not more than 15 minutes. The seclusion uses no more force than is necessary and reasonable.
- Section 258 requires the authorised doctor to be satisfied there is no other reasonably practicable way to protect the patient or others from physical harm. The authorisation is in writing, for not more than 3 hours, and states the start time, end time, measures for health, safety and comfort, the observation method, and whether a health practitioner may remove the patient early.
- A later authorisation may start immediately after an earlier one. It must not take the total, with any previous authorisation or section 263, over 9 hours in a 24-hour period, unless a section 267 plan provides for more. Those other sections were not opened.
Sources
- Mental Health Act 2016 (Qld) s 256 · 2026-10-23
- Mental Health Act 2016 (Qld) s 258 · 2026-10-23
Mechanical restraint sections were not opened. Do not apply sections 256 and 258 to mechanical restraint.
The restraint, seclusion and other practices policy, and a reduction and elimination plan, are conditions the sections name. Their text was not opened.
Health information stays in a firm-controlled tool. The Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules 2023 came into force in Queensland on 27 September 2024. The Queensland Law Society page says Queensland adopted the majority of the Uniform Law changes and does not list confidentiality among the rules it kept in 2012 wording. APP 11 applies. The lawyer decides whether any loss is notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).