Mental Health Act 1983

General provisions as to applications and recommendationsE+W

11 General provisions as to applications.E+W

(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, an application for admission for assessment, an application for admission for treatment and a guardianship application may be made either by the nearest relative of the patient or by an [F1approved mental health professional] ; and every such application shall specify the qualification of the applicant to make the application.

[F2(1A)No application mentioned in subsection (1) above shall be made by an approved mental health professional if the circumstances are such that there would be a potential conflict of interest for the purposes of regulations under section 12A below.]

(2)Every application for admission shall be addressed to the managers of the hospital to which admission is sought and every guardianship application shall be forwarded to the local social services authority named in the application as guardian, or, as the case may be, to the local social services authority for the area in which the person so named resides.

(3)Before or within a reasonable time after an application for the admission of a patient for assessment is made by an [F3approved mental health professional, that professional] shall take such steps as are practicable to inform the person (if any) appearing to be the nearest relative of the patient that the application is to be or has been made and of the power of the nearest relative under section 23(2)(a) below.

[F4(4)An approved mental health professional may not make an application for admission for treatment or a guardianship application in respect of a patient in either of the following cases—

(a)the nearest relative of the patient has notified that professional, or the local social services authority on whose behalf the professional is acting, that he objects to the application being made; or

(b)that professional has not consulted the person (if any) appearing to be the nearest relative of the patient, but the requirement to consult that person does not apply if it appears to the professional that in the circumstances such consultation is not reasonably practicable or would involve unreasonable delay.]

(5)None of the applications mentioned in subsection (1) above shall be made by any person in respect of a patient unless that person has personally seen the patient within the period of 14 days ending with the date of the application.

(6)F5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(7)Each of the applications mentioned in subsection (1) above shall be sufficient if the recommendations on which it is founded are given either as separate recommendations, each signed by a registered medical practitioner, or as a joint recommendation signed by two such practitioners.

12 General provisions as to medical recommendations.E+W

(1)The recommendations required for the purposes of an application for the admission of a patient under this Part of this Act [F6or a guardianship application](in this Act referred to as “medical recommendations”) shall be signed on or before the date of the application, and shall be given by practitioners who have personally examined the patient either together or separately, but where they have examined the patient separately not more than five days must have elapsed between the days on which the separate examinations took place.

(2)Of the medical recommendations given for the purposes of any such application, one shall be given by a practitioner approved for the purposes of this section by the Secretary of State as having special experience in the diagnosis or treatment of mental disorder; and unless that practitioner has previous acquaintance with the patient, the other such recommendation shall, if practicable, be given by a registered medical practitioner who has such previous acquaintance.

[F7(2A)A registered medical practitioner who is an approved clinician shall be treated as also approved for the purposes of this section under subsection (2) above as having special experience as mentioned there.]

[F8(3)No medical recommendation shall be given for the purposes of an application mentioned in subsection (1) above if the circumstances are such that there would be a potential conflict of interest for the purposes of regulations under section 12A below.]

[F912AConflicts of interestE+W

(1)The appropriate national authority may make regulations as to the circumstances in which there would be a potential conflict of interest such that—

(a)an approved mental health professional shall not make an application mentioned in section 11(1) above;

(b)a registered medical practitioner shall not give a recommendation for the purposes of an application mentioned in section 12(1) above.

(2)Regulations under subsection (1) above may make—

(a)provision for the prohibitions in paragraphs (a) and (b) of that subsection to be subject to specified exceptions;

(b)different provision for different cases; and

(c)transitional, consequential, incidental or supplemental provision.

(3)In subsection (1) above, “the appropriate national authority” means—

(a)in relation to applications in which admission is sought to a hospital in England or to guardianship applications in respect of which the area of the relevant local social services authority is in England, the Secretary of State;

(b)in relation to applications in which admission is sought to a hospital in Wales or to guardianship applications in respect of which the area of the relevant local social services authority is in Wales, the Welsh Ministers.

(4)References in this section to the relevant local social services authority, in relation to a guardianship application, are references to the local social services authority named in the application as guardian or (as the case may be) the local social services authority for the area in which the person so named resides.]

13[F10Duty of approved mental health professionals to make applications for admission or guardianship].E+W

[F11(1)If a local social services authority have reason to think that an application for admission to hospital or a guardianship application may need to be made in respect of a patient within their area, they shall make arrangements for an approved mental health professional to consider the patient's case on their behalf.

(1A)If that professional is—

(a)satisfied that such an application ought to be made in respect of the patient; and

(b)of the opinion, having regard to any wishes expressed by relatives of the patient or any other relevant circumstances, that it is necessary or proper for the application to be made by him,

he shall make the application.

(1B)Subsection (1C) below applies where—

(a)a local social services authority makes arrangements under subsection (1) above in respect of a patient;

(b)an application for admission for assessment is made under subsection (1A) above in respect of the patient;

(c)while the patient is liable to be detained in pursuance of that application, the authority have reason to think that an application for admission for treatment may need to be made in respect of the patient; and

(d)the patient is not within the area of the authority.

(1C)Where this subsection applies, subsection (1) above shall be construed as requiring the authority to make arrangements under that subsection in place of the authority mentioned there.]

(2)Before making an application for the admission of a patient to hospital an [F12approved mental health professional] shall interview the patient in a suitable manner and satisfy himself that detention in a hospital is in all the circumstances of the case the most appropriate way of providing the care and medical treatment of which the patient stands in need.

[F13(3)An application under subsection (1A) above may be made outside the area of the local social services authority on whose behalf the approved mental health professional is considering the patient's case.]

(4)It shall be the duty of a local social services authority, if so required by the nearest relative of a patient residing in their area, to [F14make arrangements under subsection (1) above for an approved mental health professional to consider the patient's case] with a view to making an application for his admission to hospital; and if in any such case [F15that professional] decides not to make an application he shall inform the nearest relative of his reasons in writing.

(5)Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising or requiring an application to be made by an [F16approved mental health professional] in contravention of the provisions of section 11(4) above [F17or of regulations under section 12A], or as restricting the power of [F18a local social services authority to make arrangements with an approved mental health professional to consider a patient's case or of] an [F16approved mental health professional] to make any application under this Act.

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Where a patient is admitted to a hospital in pursuance of an application (other than an emergency application) made under this Part of this Act by his nearest relative, the managers of the hospital shall as soon as practicable give notice of that fact to the local social services authority for the area in which the patient resided immediately before his admission; and that authority shall as soon as practicable arrange for [F19an approved mental health professional]F20. . . to interview the patient and provide the managers with a report on his social circumstances.

15 Rectification of applications and recommendations.E+W

(1)If within the period of 14 days beginning with the day on which a patient has been admitted to a hospital in pursuance of an application for admission for assessment or for treatment the application, or any medical recommendation given for the purposes of the application, is found to be in any respect incorrect or defective, the application or recommendation may, within that period and with the consent of the managers of the hospital, be amended by the person by whom it was signed; and upon such amendment being made the application or recommendation shall have effect and shall be deemed to have had effect as if it had been originally made as so amended.

(2)Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, if within the period mentioned in that subsection it appears to the managers of the hospital that one of the two medical recommendations on which an application for the admission of a patient is founded is insufficient to warrant the detention of the patient in pursuance of the application, they may, within that period, give notice in writing to that effect to the applicant; and where any such notice is given in respect of a medical recommendation, that recommendation shall be disregarded, but the application shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been, sufficient if—

(a)a fresh medical recommendation complying with the relevant provisions of this Part of this Act (other than the provisions relating to the time of signature and the interval between examinations) is furnished to the managers within that period; and

(b)that recommendation, and the other recommendation on which the application is founded, together comply with those provisions.

(3)Where the medical recommendations upon which an application for admission is founded are, taken together, insufficient to warrant the detention of the patient in pursuance of the application, a notice under subsection (2) above may be given in respect of either of those recommendationsF21. . .

(4)Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising the giving of notice in respect of an application made as an emergency application, or the detention of a patient admitted in pursuance of such an application, after the period of 72 hours referred to in section 4(4) above, unless the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) and (b) of that section are complied with or would be complied with apart from any error or defect to which this section applies.