Key messages
- Community visitors are volunteers who help people with a mental illness to resolve issues, seek support and make complaints.
- Community visitors can visit and inspect bed-based facilities without notice.
- Anyone receiving services in a mental health service, their family or carer can ask to be visited by a community visitor.
Community visitors are volunteers who monitor the adequacy and appropriateness of mental health services, and they help people with a mental illness who receive these services to resolve issues, seek support and make complaints.
The Office of the Public Advocate administers the Community Visitors program.
Community visitors can visit and inspect bed-based facilities without notice, including designated mental health services, residential services that provide 24-hour nursing care, and other types of residential services.
Any person receiving services in one of these mental health services, their family or carer can ask to be visited by a community visitor.
The person in charge of the mental health service must notify the Office of the Public Advocate within two days of the request.
Reviewed 29 May 2015
Health.vic
-
- Hospitals & health services
- Health Service Partnerships
- Public hospitals in Victoria
-
- Patient care
- Ambulance and patient transport
- Non-emergency patient transport
- First Aid Services
- Acute care
- Virtual care (Telehealth)
- Perinatal and reproductive services
- Rehabilitation and complex care
- Specialty diagnostics, therapeutics and programs
- Older people in hospital
- End of life and palliative care in Victoria
- Smoke Free Hospitals
-
- Quality, safety and service improvement
- My Health Record
- Collecting patient-reported outcome measures in Victoria
- Public hospital accreditation in Victoria
- Improvement and Innovation Program
- Credentialing for senior medical staff in Victoria
- Clinical risk management
- Preventing infections in health services
- Healthy choices
- Victorian Perinatal Data Collection
-
- Rural health
- Improving Access to Primary Care in Rural and Remote Areas Initiative
- Mildura Base Hospital Transition
- Rural x-ray services
- Rural health regions and locations
- Rural and regional medical director role
- Victorian Patient Transport Assistance Scheme
- Rural and isolated practice registered nurses
- Urgent care in regional and rural Victoria
-
- Private health service establishments
- Private hospitals
- Day procedure centres
- Mobile health services
- Fees for private health service establishments in Victoria
- Design resources for private health service establishments
- Professional standards in private health service establishments
- Legislation updates for private health service establishments
- Complaints about private health service establishments
- Cosmetic procedures
- Guideline for providers of liposuction
- Private hospital funding agreement
-
- Primary & community health
- Local Public Health Units
- Integrated care
-
- Maternal and Child Health Service
- Maternal and Child Health Service Framework
- Maternal and Child Health Service resources
- Child Development Information System
- Early parenting centres
- Maternal Child and Health Reporting, Funding and Data
- Baby bundle
- Sleep and settling
- Maternal and Child Health Workforce professional development
- Aboriginal Maternal and Child Health
- Public Dental and Community Health Program funding model review
-
- Public health
-
- Cemeteries and crematoria
- Cemetery trust member appointments
- Cemetery search
- Cemeteries and crematoria complaints
- Cremations
- Exhumations
- Governance and finance
- Cemetery grants
- Interments and memorials
- Land and development
- Legislation governing Victorian cemeteries and crematoria
- Cemeteries and crematoria publications
- Repatriations
- Rights of interment
-
- Medicines and Poisons Regulation
- Patient Schedule 8 treatment permits
- Schedule 9 permits for clinical trials
- Documents and forms to print or download
- Legislation and Approvals
- Frequently Asked Questions - Medicines and Poisons Regulation
- Health practitioners
- Licences and permits to possess (& possibly supply) scheduled substances
- Medicinal cannabis
- Pharmacotherapy (opioid replacement therapy)
- Recent updates
- SafeScript
-
- Environmental health
- Improving childhood asthma management in Melbourne's inner west
- Climate and weather, and public health
- Environmental health in the community
- Environmental health in the home
- Environmental health professionals
- Face masks for environmental hazards
- Human health risk assessments
- Lead and human health
- Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
- Pesticide use and pest control
-
- Immunisation
- Vaccination program for adults
- Seasonal influenza vaccine
- Immunisation provider information
- Immunisation resources order form
- Adverse events following immunisation reporting
- Cold chain management
- Immunisation schedule and vaccine eligibility criteria
- Immunisers in Victoria
- Immunity for community
- Immunisation for special-risk groups
- Vaccination for adolescents
- Vaccination of infants and children
- Ordering vaccine
- Victorian coverage rates for Victoria
- Yellow fever vaccination centres
-
- Infectious diseases
- Disease information and advice
- Infection control guidelines
- Infectious diseases surveillance in Victoria
- Notification procedures for infectious diseases
- Notifiable infectious diseases, conditions and micro-organisms
- Protecting patient privacy in Victoria
- Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008
-
- Mental health
-
- About Victoria's mental health services
- Area-based services
- Statewide and specialist mental health services
- Mental Health Community Support Services
- Support and intervention services
- Language services - when to use them
- Access to mental health services across areas
- Transport for people in mental health services
- Order mental health publications
-
- Alcohol & drugs
-
- Alcohol and other drug treatment services
- Overview of Victoria's alcohol and drug treatment system
- Pathways into alcohol and other drugs treatment
- Prevention and harm reduction
- Medically supervised injecting room
- Community-based AOD treatment services in Victoria
- Residential treatment services
- Hospital-based services
- Forensic services
- Pharmacotherapy treatment
- Services for Aboriginal people
- Services for young people
- Statewide and specialist services
- Compulsory treatment
- Family and peer support
-
- Alcohol and other drug service standards and guidelines
- Alcohol and other drug client charter and resources
- Alcohol and other drug treatment principles
- Service quality and accreditation
- Alcohol and other drug program guidelines
- Maintenance pharmacotherapy
- Drink and Drug Driving Behaviour Change Program
- Alcohol and Other Drug Residential Rehabilitation Facility Design Guidelines
- Specialist Family Violence Advisor capacity building program in mental health and alcohol and other drug services - Victoria
-
- Ageing & aged care
- My Aged Care assessment services
-
- Dementia-friendly environments
- Designing for people with dementia
- Maintaining personal identity
- Personal enjoyment
- Interior design
- Dining areas, kitchens and eating
- Bedrooms and privacy
- Bathrooms
- Gardens and outdoor spaces
- Assistive technology
- Staff education and support
- Strategies, checklists and tools
- References
-
- About us
- Our operational plan
- Our ministers
-
- Health workforce
- Medical workforce in Victoria
- Mental health workforce
-
- Nursing and midwifery
-
- Free nursing and midwifery study
- Undergraduate nursing and midwifery scholarships
- Enrolled nurse to registered nurse transition scholarships
- Re-entry pathway scholarships for nurses and midwives
- Refresher pathway for nurses and midwives
- Postgraduate scholarships for nurses and midwives
- Support for new nurse practitioners
- Additional funding for nursing and midwifery positions
- Undergraduate student employment
- Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Development Fund
- Becoming a nurse or midwife
- Furthering your nursing and midwifery career
- Midwives in Victoria
- Inter-professional Nurse Paramedic Graduate Program
- Returning to nursing or midwifery
- Safe Patient Care
- Aboriginal graduate and cadetship programs
- Allied health workforce
- Education and training
- Enterprise agreements
- Worker health and wellbeing
- Information sharing and MARAM
- Recognition and awards
- Our campaigns