MHA 1983 s25

Mental Health Act 1983
(as amended)

Law as at 19/11/11 unless otherwise stated under "Amendments" heading

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Overview of the MHA 1983
Plain text for printing
Legislation.gov.uk

See Nearest relative for details.

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.

• M v East London NHS Foundation Trust CO/1065/2009 — The nearest relative's statement to the AMHP that he disagreed with detention under s3 was sufficient to amount to the notification of an objection under s11; it was unaffected, in the absence of any clear evidence of a change of mind, by the failure to state an objection in a subsequent conversation immediately prior to the making of the application.

• R (B) v MHRT [2003] EWHC 815 (Admin) — It is lawful to defer discharge in dangerous criterion cases where the deferral is relevant to considerations of dangerousness

• R (O) v West London MH NHS Trust [2005] EWHC 604 (Admin) — Hospital managers are under a common law duty to provide both oral and written reasons at the time of the decison; the decision is legally defective if the reasons are inadequate; this defect cannot be cured by later evidence giving a proper explanation of the reasons; the supplementary evidence was more than mere elucidation so was not accepted.

No results

See also

[The chapter/paragraph numbers which appear below (if any) refer to the 2008 versions of the Code of Practice and Reference Guide.]

• Reference Guide to the Mental Health Act 1983, 12. Detention in hospital [Note that the chapter number relates to the old Reference Guide], 15. Supervised Community Treatment [Note that the chapter number relates to the old Reference Guide] — paragraphs 12.101 to 12.112 (detention), 15.104 to 15.113 (SCT)
• Mental Health Act 1983 Code Of Practice for England, 28. Guardianship, leave of absence or SCT?

Law

Restrictions on discharge by nearest relative

25.—(1) An order for the discharge of a patient who is liable to be detained in a hospital shall not be made [under section 23 above] by his nearest relative except after giving not less than 72 hours’ notice in writing to the managers of the hospital; and if, within 72 hours after such notice has been given, the [responsible clinician] furnishes to the managers a report certifying that in the opinion of [that clinician] the patient, if discharged, would be likely to act in a manner dangerous to other persons or to himself—

(a) any order for the discharge of the patient made by that relative in pursuance of the notice shall be of no effect; and

(b) no further order for the discharge of the patient shall be made by that relative during the period of six months beginning with the date of the report.

[(1A) Subsection (1) above shall apply to an order for the discharge of a community patient as it applies to an order for the discharge of a patient who is liable to be detained in a hospital, but with the reference to the managers of the hospital being read as a reference to the managers of the responsible hospital.]

(2) In any case where a report under subsection (1) above is furnished in respect of a patient who is liable to be detained in pursuance of an application for admission for treatment[, or in respect of a community patient,] the managers shall cause the nearest relative of the patient to be informed.

Amendments