6(1)Section 21 (special provisions as to patients absent without leave) is amended as follows.U.K.
(2)In subsection (1)—
(a)in paragraph (a), after “Act” insert “ or, in the case of a community patient, the community treatment order would cease to be in force ”, and
(b)after “liable or subject” insert “ , or the order shall not cease to be in force, ”.
(3)After subsection (3) (inserted by section 37 of this Act) insert—
“(4)Where a community patient is absent without leave on the day on which (apart from this section) the 72-hour period mentioned in section 17F above would expire, that period shall not expire until the end of the period of 72 hours beginning with the time when—
(a)the patient is taken into custody under section 18 above and returned to the hospital where he ought to be; or
(b)the patient returns himself to the hospital where he ought to be within the period during which he can be taken into custody under section 18 above.
(5)Any reference in this section, or in sections 21A to 22 below, to the time when a community treatment order would cease, or would have ceased, to be in force shall be construed as a reference to the time when it would cease, or would have ceased, to be in force by reason only of the passage of time.”