Notice of proceedings, and listing (MHT)
Within about one or two weeks of receiving the application, the Tribunal secretariat will send a copy to the hospital and will acknowledge receipt to the applicant (this is not contained in the rules).
Form HQ1 is used to assist with listing.
When the Tribunal receives the necessary reports it gives notice of the proceedings to the people listed in rule 33. This includes:
(c) subject to a patient with capacity to do so requesting otherwise, where any person other than the applicant is named by the authority as exercising the functions of the nearest relative, to that person;
(e) to any other person who, in the opinion of the Tribunal, should have an opportunity of being heard.
Previously the tribunal would notify any NR named in the application form without question. From June 2019 the information in the responsible authority’s statement proforma has been used, in precedence to that provided on the application form, to make a decision under (c) above.
During the coronavirus all hearings for community patients were postponed indefinitely (Mental Health Tribunal, 'Order and directions for all community patients who are subject to a CTO or conditional discharge and who have applied or been referred to the tribunal for the duration of the Pilot Practice Direction' (26/3/20)). This policy was successfully challenged (on the facts of that case) in Re B [2020] MHLO 18 (FTT), and subsequently these hearings began being listed normally (Mental Health Tribunal, 'Order and directions for listing of community hearings' (6/5/20)).
INFORMATION
What links here:
- Mental Health Tribunal, 'Order and directions for all community patients who are subject to a CTO or conditional discharge and who have applied or been referred to the tribunal for the duration of the Pilot Practice Direction' (26/3/20)
- Re B [2020] MHLO 18 (FTT)
- Mental Health Tribunal, 'Order and directions for listing of community hearings' (6/5/20)