Mental Health Act 1983

12 General provisions as to medical recommendations. E+W

(1) The recommendations required for the purposes of an application for the admission of a patient under this Part of this Act (in this Act referred to as “medical recommendations”) shall be signed on or before the date of the application, and shall be given by practitioners who have personally examined the patient either together or separately, but where they have examined the patient separately not more than five days must have elapsed between the days on which the separate examinations took place.

(2) Of the medical recommendations given for the purposes of any such application, one shall be given by a practitioner approved for the purposes of this section by the Secretary of State as having special experience in the diagnosis or treatment of mental disorder; and unless that practitioner has previous acquaintance with the patient, the other such recommendation shall, if practicable, be given by a registered medical practitioner who has such previous acquaintance.

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, where the application is for the admission of the patient to a hospital which is not a [F1 registered establishment], one (but not more than one) of the medical recommendations may be given by a practitioner on the staff of that hospital, except where the patient is proposed to be accommodated under [F2 section 21(4) or 44(6) of the National Health Service Act 2006, paragraph 15 of Schedule 2 to, or paragraph 11 of Schedule 6 to, that Act, or paragraph 15 of Schedule 2 to, or paragraph 11 of Schedule 5 to, the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006](which relate to accommodation for private patients) [F3 or otherwise to be accommodated, by virtue of an undertaking to pay in respect of the accommodation, in a hospital vested in an NHS foundation trust] .

(4) Subsection (3) above shall not preclude both the medical recommendations being given by practitioners on the staff of the hospital in question if—

(a) compliance with that subsection would result in delay involving serious risk to the health or safety of the patient; and

(b) one of the practitioners giving the recommendations works at the hospital for less than half of the time which he is bound by contract to devote to work in the health service; and

(c) where one of those practitioners is a consultant, the other does not work (whether at the hospital or elsewhere) in a grade in which he is under that consultant’s directions.

(5) A medical recommendation for the purposes of an application for the admission of a patient under this Part of this Act shall not be given by—

(a) the applicant;

(b) a partner of the applicant or of a practitioner by whom another medical recommendation is given for the purposes of the same application;

(c) a person employed as an assistant by the applicant or by any such practitioner;

(d) a person who receives or has an interest in the receipt of any payments made on account of the maintenance of the patient; or

(e) except as provided by subsection (3) or (4) above, a practitioner on the staff of the hospital to which the patient is to be admitted,

or by the husband, wife [F4 , civil partner] , father, father-in-law, mother, mother-in-law, son, son-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, sister or sister-in-law of the patient, or of any person mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (e) above, or of a practitioner by whom another medical recommendation is given for the purposes of the same application.

(6) A general practitioner who is employed part-time in a hospital shall not for the purposes of this section be regarded as a practitioner on its staff.

(7) Subsections (1), (2) and (5) above shall apply to applications for guardianship as they apply to applications for admission but with the substitution for paragraph (e) of subsection (5) above of the following paragraph—

“(e) the person named as guardian in the application.”.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 12(3) substituted (1.4.2002) by 2000 c. 14, s. 116, Sch. 4 para. 9(2); S.I. 2001/4150, art. 3(3) (subject to transitional provisions in art. 4 and S.I. 2002/1493, art. 4); S.I. 2002/920, art. 3(3)(d) (subject to transitional provisions in Schs. 1-3 and with art. 3(4)-(10))

F2 Words in s. 12(3) substituted (1.3.2007) by National Health Service (Consequential Provisions) Act 2006 (c. 43), ss. 2, 8(2), Sch. 1 para. 63 (with Sch. 3 Pt. 1)

F3 Words in s. 12(3) inserted (1.4.2004) by Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 (c. 43), ss. 34, 199, Sch. 4 para. 51; S.I. 2004/759, art. 2

F4 Words in s. 12(5) inserted (5.12.2005) by Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c. 33), ss. 26(1), 263, Sch. 27 para. 86(a); S.I. 2005/3175, art. 2(2)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 12(2): certain functions not to be exercisable by a Primary Care Trust (E.) (1.4.2002) by virtue of 2000/695, reg. 4(1), Sch. 4 (as amended by S.I. 2002/555, reg. 6(3))

C2 S. 12(2): transfer of functions (E.) (1.4.2001) by S.I. 2001/747, regs. 2(1), 3, 4, Sch. 1