Under the new Act, nominated person has been renamed ‘nominated support person’.
The Act also clarifies the role of the nominated support person is to advocate for the views and preferences of the patient and support them to communicate and make their own decisions.
One important change is the Act removes requirements that the appointment of a nominated support person be witnessed by an authorised witness - under the Act, they can now be witnessed by any adult.
The Act also makes clear that a designated mental health service
must take all reasonable steps to support a nominated support person in their role.
You can find the Nominated Support Person documents and more information in the Act handbook on the health.vic website.
Reviewed 13 August 2023