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Mental Health Law Online

The internet resource on mental health law, and mental capacity law, for England & Wales. You can sign up for free email updates, the online forum and the CPD scheme (which provides 12 hours for £60 and is suitable for lawyers and non-lawyers). The abbreviations are similar but MHLO, MHLA and MHLR are all different.

The main content of this website has been divided into Case law (2345), Legislation (378) and Resources (1,031), together with separate Information pages (328) to link everything together.

  Forum topics


Contacts

The Magic Book is a database of contact details which currently contains 302 pages.


  News and updates

All the latest updates to the website can be seen on on the MHLO updates forum category. The five most recent appear here.

  • 13/05/24: Mental capacity law newsletter. 39 Essex Chambers, 'Mental Capacity Report' (issue 140, May 2024) — "Highlights this month include: (1) In the Health, Welfare and Deprivation of Liberty Report: a rare successful capacity appeal, evicting someone from P's house and holistically approaching hoarding; (2) In the Practice and Procedure Report: when you can remove deputies, and publishing judgments in serious medical treatment and closed material procedure cases; (3) In the Mental Health Matters Report: when not to rely on capacity in the mental health context; (4) In the Wider Context Report: capacity, autonomy and the limits of the obligation to secure life, and the European Court of Human Right raises the stakes for psychiatric admission for those with learning disabilities; (5) In the Scotland Report: licence conditions and deprivation of liberty, and Executor qua attorney - a few steps back?"
  • 09/04/24: Case (DOLS ineligibility under Case E). Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust v JS [2023] EWCOP 33 — The key questions when considering ineligiblity under Case E are: (1) Is the person a 'mental health patient'? (2) Is the person an 'objecting' mental health patient? (3) Could the person be detained under s2 or 3 MHA 1983? The judge had been entitled to reach the conclusions he did on the evidence he had.
  • 08/04/24: Remote hearings. HMCTS, 'Safety and security in hospitals and trusts' (letter to MHLA, 4/4/24) — This letter states that from 8/4/24, for "health and safety" reasons, all hearings at venues that have not confirmed compliance with the minimum safety and security requirements will be held by video link. Of over 820 venues contacted (in February 2024), 150 stated that they cannot comply, and others have not yet replied. Representations can be made if there is "a particular medical or other reason that the patient cannot have a VH hearing" and directions might include "reasonable adjustments or a transfer to a suitable hospital".


  Consultations

No open consultations.


  To do

Things that will end up with their own MHLO pages, when I have time...


  Email updates

Choose occasional and/or monthly update emails. To sign up, please go to the email updates subscription page.


  CPD

The CPD scheme is primarily aimed at mental health solicitors, and is an ideal way to evidence your continued competence, but is also suitable for barristers, psychiatrists, social workers and psychiatric nurses. For £60, you can obtain 12 CPD credits.


  Jobs

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  Books

Please support MHLO by buying your books via our affiliate links - either from Amazon or from Bookshop.org (a new website which supports independent bookshops).

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