McCarthy Jane, Duff Mhairi
Associate Professor in Psychological Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Email:
Deputy Clinical Director, Forensic Intellectual Disability Secure Services, Mason Clinic, Waitemata District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand.
BJPsych Int. 2019 Aug;16(3):71-73. doi: 10.1192/bji.2018.37.
Aotearoa New Zealand is a country of just under 5 million people with a diverse population, the main ethnic groups being of European descent and Maori. There are well-developed public and private healthcare systems. As in other countries, Aotearoa New Zealand has closed the large institutions and developed community-based services for people with intellectual disability. Aotearoa New Zealand has specific legislation for people with intellectual disability presenting to the criminal justice system and has unusually and explicitly excluded people with intellectual disability from mental health legislation since 1992. Partly as a result, most health professional training schemes have little focus on issues for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Therefore, one of the main challenges over the coming decade will be to ensure there is a sufficient workforce of psychiatrists and other professionals who have the training and expertise to work with people with intellectual disability requiring mental health and forensic services.
新西兰是一个人口略少于500万的国家，人口构成多样，主要族群为欧洲裔和毛利人。该国拥有发达的公共和私立医疗体系。与其他国家一样，新西兰关闭了大型机构，并为智障人士发展了社区服务。新西兰针对进入刑事司法系统的智障人士制定了专门立法，自1992年以来，还异常明确地将智障人士排除在心理健康立法之外。部分由于这个原因，大多数卫生专业培训计划很少关注智障和发育障碍人士的问题。因此，未来十年的主要挑战之一将是确保有足够数量的精神科医生和其他专业人员，他们具备与需要心理健康和法医服务的智障人士合作的培训和专业知识。
