Mental Health Act 1959

81 Removal to Scotland of patients not subject to restriction

(1) If it appears to the Minister, in the case of a patient who is for the time being liable to be detained or subject to guardianship under this Act, being—

(a) a patient who is so liable or subject by virtue of an application under Part IV of this Act;

(b) a patient who is so liable or subject by virtue of a hospital order or transfer direction without an order or direction restricting discharge;

(c) a patient who is so liable or subject by virtue of a guardianship order or a direction under section seventy-nine of this Act,

that it is in the patient's interests to remove him to Scotland, and that arrangements have been made for his reception into a mental hospital, asylum or house in Scotland where persons of unsound mind may be detained under the Lunacy (Scotland) Acts, 1857 to 1913, or for placing him in an institution for defectives or under guardianship within the meaning of the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1913, the Minister may authorise the removal of the patient to Scotland and give any necessary directions for his conveyance to his destination.

(2) Where a person removed in pursuance of an authority under this section is received into any such hospital, asylum or house as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, then—

(a) if, immediately before his removal, he was liable to be detained in a hospital within the meaning of Part IV of this Act, he shall on his reception be treated for all purposes as having been so received by virtue of an order under section fourteen of the Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1862;

(b) if, immediately before his removal, he was subject to guardianship under this Act, he shall on his reception be treated for all purposes as a person in whose case an order under section thirteen of the Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1866 is in force ;

and for the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section nine of the said Act of 1866 the person entitled to discharge a patient transferred to Scotland under the foregoing provisions of this section shall be ascertained as if the person at whose instance he is detained were dead.

(3) Where a person removed in pursuance of an authority under this section is placed in an institution for defectives or under guardianship within the meaning of the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1913, then—

(a) if before the removal the patient was liable to be detained or subject to guardianship as mentioned in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section, he shall on being so placed be treated for all purposes as having been so placed by his parent or guardian under section four of that Act;

(b) if before the removal the patient was liable to be detained or subject to guardianship as mentioned in paragraph (b) or paragraph (c) of the said subsection (1), he shall on being so placed be treated for all purposes as if he were detained in the institution or placed under guardianship in pursuance of a judicial order under section seven of the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act, 1913, made on the date on which he is so placed.