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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 (2342), Legislation (377) and Resources (1,003), 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 298 pages.


  News and updates

All the latest updates can be seen on on the MHLO updates forum category. Here are the most recent:

  • 07/12/23: Mental capacity law newsletter. 39 Essex Chambers, 'Mental Capacity Report' (issue 137, December 2023) — "Highlights this month include: (1) In the Health, Welfare and Deprivation of Liberty Report: the least worst option as regards compulsory feeding, putting values properly into the mix and the need for a decision actually to be in contemplation before capacity is considered; (2) In the Property and Affairs Report: relief from forfeiture in a very sad case; (3) In the Practice and Procedure Report: counting the costs of delay, guidance on termination cases, and a consultation on increasing Court of Protection feeds; (4) In the Wider Context Report: forgetting to think and paying the price, the cost of getting it wrong as litigation friend, Wales potentially striking out alone on mental health reform, and a review of Arianna’s book on social care charging; (5) In the Scotland Report: reduction of a Will: incapacity and various vitiating factors, and an update on law reform progress."
  • 21/11/23: Case (Reinstatement). MB v South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust [2023] UKUT 261 (AAC) — The patient withdrew his tribunal application in order to give himself an opportunity to be tested further and to allow for plans for discharge to be developed further. The First-tier Tribunal subsequently refused to reinstate the application, mischaracterising the only "change in circumstances" as being the desire to pursue the application (and noting that there would be no detriment to the patient as he could now apply in the new eligibility period). The Upper Tribunal decided that reinstatement could only properly be understood in the context of the withdrawal reasons, that the FTT had unlawfully failed to consider whether the patient having been tested further in the intervening period was a change in circumstances that could justify reinstatement, and that in any event the reasons were inadequate for failing to address the central thrust of the application. The UT set aside and remade the decision, allowing the reinstatement.


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.


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