Introduction
A community mental health center provides patients with mental health problems with inpatient and outpatient day treatment as well as emergency services. In the state of Florida, setting up a community mental health center has to be done by following the processes set in place by the Florida state statutes on public health (Florida Mental Health Act of 1971) and acquiring the needed license to run the health facility.
To obtain a license in the state of Florida to run a community mental health center, your proposed plan of operation and management of the said center must comply with guidelines such as:
- The right standards for the provision of client care.
- Set policies for the employment of adequate staff to run the community mental health center.
- The availability of good facilities and equipment as well as plans for their maintenance.
- Policies and procedures for reviewing and reporting cases and incidents that occur in the community's mental health center facilities coupled with the corrective measures taken to remedy the situation.This information should also be provided with a time frame mirroring such occurrences.
- A quality assurance manager who should be picked by a committee set up by the governing board of directors of the agency that chose to run the community mental health center.
The Florida State Health Department shall also have the right to access the community's mental health center records which are needed to determine licensee compliance with the above stated rules. These records are however not open to both the public and health regulatory department for cases on civil or administrative action but only for disciplinary proceedings by the appropriate regulatory body.
Another important regulation put in place by the Florida statutes, is the patient's right to treatment. This applies to any patient admitted into the community mental health center. It states that patients should be treated in a dignified manner that respects the patient's human and civil rights. A patient, no matter his condition or the state of his finances, should not have the necessary treatment she needs withheld from him.
Tips and comments
Finally, a patient who is receiving treatment at a community mental health center must be given a free reign to communicate with both private people and public organizations that are not affiliated with the community mental health center. An exception occurs only if such contact with outsiders is harmful to the person's state of well-being. Also, the use of restraining devices is forbidden in such centers except in cases where the patient has proven to be a source of danger to other personnel or patients. Lastly,the community mental health center is obligated to provide communication services for all its patients and also to comply with the writ of habeas corpus through which a patient can be released from unlawful detention.
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