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PART VIIRemoval and Return of Patients within United Kingdom etc.

Removal to and from Northern Ireland

81Removal to Scotland of patients from Northern Ireland

(1)If it appears to the responsible authority, in the case of a patient who is for the time being liable to be detained or subject to guardianship under the [1961 c. 15 (N.I.).] Mental Health Act (Northern Ireland) 1961, that it is in the interests of the patient to remove him to Scotland, and that arrangements have been made for admitting him to a hospital or, as the case may be, for receiving him into guardianship there, the responsible authority may authorise his removal to Scotland and may give any necessary directions for his conveyance to his destination.

(2)Subject to the provisions of subsection (4) of this section, where a patient who is liable to be detained under this Act by virtue of an application, order or direction under any enactment in force in Northern Ireland is removed under this section and admitted to a hospital in Scotland, he shall be treated as if on the date of his admission he had been so admitted in pursuance of an application forwarded to the managers of the hospital, or an order or direction made or given, on that date under the corresponding enactment in force in Scotland and, where he is subject to an order or direction under any enactment in the Mental Health Act (Northern Ireland) 1961, restricting his discharge, as if he were subject to a restriction order or a restriction direction under the corresponding enactment in force in Scotland.

(3)Where a patient who is subject to guardianship under this Act by virtue of an application or order under any enactment in force in Northern Ireland is removed under this section and received into guardianship in Scotland, he shall be treated as if on the date on which he arrives at the place where he is to reside he had been so received in pursuance of an application or order under the corresponding enactment in force in Scotland and as if the application had been forwarded or, as the case may be, the order had been made on that date.

(4)Where a person removed under this section was immediately before his removal liable to be detained by virtue of an application for admission under section 12 of the Mental Health Act (Northern Ireland) 1961, he shall—

(a)if a report under section 19 of that Act has not been made in respect of him, be treated, on his admission to a hospital in Scotland, as if he had been admitted thereto in pursuance of an emergency recommendation made on the date of his admission;

(b)if a report under the said section 19 has been made in respect of him, be treated, on his admission to a hospital in Scotland, as if he had been admitted thereto in pursuance of an application for admission forwarded to the managers of that hospital on the date of his admission.

(5)Where a patient removed under this section was immediately before his removal liable to be detained under the [1961 c. 15 (N.I.).] Mental Health Act (Northern Ireland) 1961, by virtue of a transfer direction given while he was serving a sentence of imprisonment (within the meaning of section 58(6) of that Act) imposed by a court in Northern Ireland, he shall be treated as if the sentence had been imposed by a court in Scotland.

(6)Where a patient removed under this section was immediately before his removal subject to an order or direction restricting his discharge, being an order or direction of limited duration, the restriction order or restriction direction to which he is subject by virtue of subsection (2) of this section shall expire on the date on which the first-mentioned order or direction would have expired if he had not been so removed.

(7)In this section " the responsible authority" means the Department of Health and Social Services for Northern Ireland or, in relation to a patient who is subject to an order or direction restricting his discharge, the Secretary of State.