Police and doctors will share more patient info
New changes coming into effect on Christmas Eve will see police and health practitioners share more information about patients who have access to firearms.
Under this month’s amendments to the Arms Act 1983, a person who applies for a firearms licence, regardless of whether they have held one in the past, must provide the name of a health practitioner, who will be alerted by police if the licence is granted.
Currently, health practitioners are able to share information about their patients with authorities if they believe there is a serious and imminent risk to public health or safety, or to the life or health of the person concerned or another individual. It is not mandatory.
The new amendments, which will come into effect on Christmas Eve, mean health practitioners will now need to ‘‘consider’’ notifying police about a patient’s health conditions, if they believe the conditions could develop in a way that means it could be unsafe for the person to have access to firearms.
However, practitioners are not legally required to do so, and are not liable for criminal, civil or disciplinary proceedings by disclosing the information.
Once a notification is made, police can then ask the licence holder to undergo further assessment from an independent medical expert, or suspend or revoke their licence.
Examples of the health conditions specified include depression, anxiety, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, and acute stress reactions caused by physical, emotional or mental trauma.
The amendments are part of a raft of changes to firearms legislation following the Christchurch mosque attack.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that the terrorist was treated in hospital in the months leading up to the attack, after accidentally shooting himself, but medical staff never alerted police to his injuries.
The incident happened less than 12 months after he was granted a firearms licence, in November 2017 – a decision that has faced heavy criticism and prompted an apology from police.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry report identified failures by police staff, who wrongly accepted a ‘‘gaming friend’’ and the friend’s parent as character references for the terrorist’s application, and inadequately assessed the pair’s connection to the terrorist.
Under the new amendments, if health practitioners become aware that their patient holds a firearms licence, they are encouraged to add this to the patient’s medical records and make it readily visible whenever the record is accessed.
Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners medical director Bryan Betty said every circumstance was going to be different, and a medical assessment was made based on the health professional’s opinion at that point in time.
‘‘We worked with police on the changes to the act.’’