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Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003

Status and rights of care recipients - Specific powers exercisable over care recipients

61: Restraint of care recipients

You could also call this:

"Rules about when carers can stop you from doing something to keep you or others safe"

Illustration for Intellectual Disability (Compulsory Care and Rehabilitation) Act 2003

If you are a care recipient, a care manager can restrain you if it is necessary to stop you from doing something that could harm you or others. This includes stopping you from damaging property or compromising your own care and well-being, or that of other care recipients. The care manager can only restrain you if it is really necessary.

When a care manager decides to restrain you, they must follow certain rules. They cannot use more force than necessary, and they cannot restrain you for longer than necessary. They must also follow guidelines issued under section 148 that are relevant to restraining care recipients.

If someone is looking after you in an emergency, they can restrain you if they have been given permission by your care manager, but they must tell your care manager right away. Every time you are restrained, the details of what happened must be written down in a special register, following guidelines issued under section 148.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM225477.

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Part 5Status and rights of care recipients
Specific powers exercisable over care recipients

61Restraint of care recipients

  1. A care manager may restrain a care recipient if that is necessary to prevent the care recipient from doing 1 or more of the following:

  2. endangering the health or safety of the care recipient or of others:
    1. seriously damaging property:
      1. seriously compromising the care and well-being of the care recipient or of other care recipients.

        1. A care recipient may not be restrained under subsection (1) by the application of a mechanical restraint if—

        2. 1 or more authorised individuals can personally restrain the care recipient to achieve the purpose for which the care recipient is to be restrained; and
          1. it is reasonably practicable for those individuals to do so.

            1. The following provisions must be followed when a care recipient is restrained:

            2. a person exercising the power of restraint may not use a greater degree of force, and may not restrain the care recipient for longer, than is required to achieve the purpose for which the care recipient is restrained:
              1. a person exercising the power of restraint must comply with guidelines issued under section 148 that are relevant to the restraint of the care recipient:
                1. in an emergency, a care recipient may be restrained by a person who, under a delegation given by the care recipient's care manager, has immediate responsibility for the care recipient, but that person must immediately bring the case to the attention of the care manager:
                  1. the duration and circumstances of each episode of restraint must be recorded in a register kept in accordance with guidelines issued under section 148.