Mental Health Act 1983
(as amended)

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Law as at 19/11/11

Part II contents

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12A, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17A, 17B, 17C, 17D, 17E, 17F, 17G, 18, 19, 19A, 20, 20A, 20B, 21, 21A, 21B, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34

All Parts

I, II, III, IV, 4A, V, VI, VIII, IX, X, Schedules

Overview of the MHA 1983
Plain text for printing
Statute Law Database

Changes made by Mental Health Act 2007

• Responsible Clinician/Approved Clinician replaces Responsible Medical Officer 3/11/08
• Supervised Community Treatment replaces Supervised Discharge 3/11/08

Related cases

Any cases with a hyperlink to this legislation will automatically be added here. There may be other relevant cases without a hyperlink, so please check the mental health case law page.

• Re Brammall; W Primary Care Trust v TB (2009) EWHC 1737 (Fam) — TB was eligible to be deprived of her liberty under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (either under DOLS provisions or s16 court order): she might have been ineligible under Case E, but she was not a "mental health patient" because her care home did not fall within the definition of a hospital.

See also

• Reference Guide to the Mental Health Act 1983, 1. The structure of the Act and basic definitions, 12. Detention in hospital — paragraphs 1.28 to 1.30 and 12.36 to 12.38

Amendment

This section was updated on 1/10/10 by the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Consequential Amendments No.2) Order 2010 with effect from 1/10/10. The amendment will be applied to the text below soon but in the meantime, please note that the definition of 'registered establishment' has changed as follows:

“registered establishment” means an establishment which would not, apart from subsection (2) below, be a hospital for the purposes of this Part and which—

(a) in England, is a hospital as defined by section 275 of the National Health Service Act 2006 that is used for the carrying on of a regulated activity, within the meaning of Part 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, which relates to the assessment or medical treatment of mental disorder and in respect of which a person is registered under Chapter 2 of that Part; and

(b) in Wales, is an establishment in respect of which a person is registered under Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000 as an independent hospital in which treatment or nursing (or both) are provided for persons liable to be detained under this Act;

Law

Interpretation of Part II

34.—(1) In this Part of this Act—

["the appropriate practitioner" means—

(a) in the case of a patient who is subject to the guardianship of a person other than a local social services authority, the nominated medical attendant of the patient; and

(b) in any other case, the responsible clinician;]

[...]

"the nominated medical attendant", in relation to a patient who is subject to the guardianship of a person other than a local social services authority, means the person appointed in pursuance of regulations made under section 9(2) above to act as the medical attendant of the patient;

["registered establishment" means an establishment which would not, apart from subsection (2) below, be a hospital for the purposes of this Part and which—

(a) in England, is a hospital as defined by section 275 of the National Health Service Act 2006 that is used for the carrying on of a regulated activity, within the meaning of Part 1 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, which relates to the assessment or medical treatment of mental disorder and in respect of which a person is registered under Chapter 2 of that Part; and

(b) in Wales, is an establishment in respect of which a person is registered under Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000 as an independent hospital in which treatment or nursing (or both) are provided for persons liable to be detained under this Act;]

["the responsible clinician" means—

(a) in relation to a patient liable to be detained by virtue of an application for admission for assessment or an application for admission for treatment, or a community patient, the approved clinician with overall responsibility for the patient's case;

(b) in relation to a patient subject to guardianship, the approved clinician authorised by the responsible local social services authority to act (either generally or in any particular case or for any particular purpose) as the responsible clinician;]

[...]

(1A) [...]

(2) Except where otherwise expressly provided, this Part of this Act applies in relation to [a registered establishment], as it applies in relation to a hospital, and references in this Part of this Act to a hospital, and any reference in this Act to a hospital to which this Part of this Act applies, shall be construed accordingly.

(3) In relation to a patient who is subject to guardianship in pursuance of a guardianship application, any reference in this Part of this Act to the responsible local social services authority is a reference—

(a) where the patient is subject to the guardianship of a local social services authority, to that authority;

(b) where the patient is subject to the guardianship of a person other than a local social services authority, to the local social services authority for the area in which that person resides.

Amendments