Title, commencement and application

1.  The title of this Order is the Mental Health (Nurses) (Wales) Order 2008, it comes into force on 3 November 2008 and applies in relation to Wales.

Prescribed classes of nurse for the purposes of section 5(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983

2.—(1) For the purposes of section 5(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983 (power to detain patient in hospital for maximum of 6 hours) a nurse of the prescribed class is a nurse registered in either Sub-Part 1 or Sub-Part 2 of the register maintained under article 5 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001(2), provided that the registration of the nurse includes an entry as specified in paragraph (2).

(2) An entry in the register as referred to in paragraph (1) is either:—

(a)an entry indicating that the nurse’s field of practice is mental health nursing; or

(b)an entry indicating that the nurse’s field of practice is learning disabilities nursing.

Revocations

3.  The Mental Health (Nurses) Order 1998(3) is revoked in relation to Wales.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order revokes and replaces the Mental Health (Nurses) Order 1998. It prescribes the classes of nurse empowered under section 5(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983 (“the 1983 Act”) to detain, for up to six hours, a patient who is receiving treatment for mental disorder as a hospital in-patient. The Order reflects a change to the registration of nurses within the register maintained under article 5 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, which now provides for nurses to be registered by reference to an entry indicating their relevant field of practice and provides that for the purposes of section 5(4) such entries listed under either Sub-Parts 1 or 2 of the register must relate either to mental health or learning disabilities nursing.

A regulatory impact assessment has not been prepared.