Section 120: Power to remove person causing nuisance or disturbance
679.This section provides that a police constable may remove a person reasonably suspected of committing, or having committed, the offence in section 119 from the NHS premises concerned.
680.Where NHS bodies wish to have the option to exercise the power of removal without recourse to police constables, they will need to authorise at least one member of their staff (to be known as the “authorised officer”) to exercise the powers of removal.
681.A person authorised by an English NHS Trust, Primary Care Trust or NHS Foundation Trust to exercise the power of removal may remove a person reasonably suspected of committing, or having committed, the offence in section 119 from the English NHS premises concerned and may either carry out the removal himself or herself or authorise another person working for one of these English NHS bodies to do so. A person authorised by a Welsh NHS Trust or Local Health Board to exercise the power of removal may remove a person reasonably suspected of committing, or having committed, the offence in section 119 from the Welsh premises concerned and may either carry out the removal himself or herself or authorise another person working for one of these Welsh NHS bodies to do so.
682.Subsection (3) provides that any person exercising the power of removal under this section may use reasonable force if necessary.
683.Subsection (4) sets out restrictions on the exercise of the power of removal. A person cannot be removed if the authorised officer has reason to believe that the person to be removed requires medical advice, treatment or care or that removal would endanger the person’s physical or mental health. In practice, this means that if an authorised officer has any reason to believe that the person to be removed falls within one of these categories, he will need to seek advice from an appropriate medical practitioner to determine whether, in fact, the person to be removed does fall within one of these categories and whether removal can take place. This imposes a safeguard on the exercise of the power of removal to prevent the removal by the authorised officer or authorised NHS staff member of anyone who may need medical help or may be vulnerable.
