31.The test requires that appropriate treatment is actually available for the patient. It is not enough that appropriate treatment exists in theory for the patient’s condition. The words “nature or degree” in the appropriate treatment test are already used in the criteria for detention in the 1983 Act. Case law has established that “nature” refers to the particular mental disorder from which the patient is suffering, its chronicity, its prognosis, and the patient’s previous response to receiving treatment for disorder. “Degree” refers to the current manifestation of the patient’s disorder (R v Mental Health Review Tribunal for the South Thames Region ex p. Smith [1999] C.O.D. 148).
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