New section 261A
85.Sections 260 and 261 of the 2003 Act place certain duties on hospital managers, known as appropriate persons for the purposes of these provisions, with regard to the provision of information to patients, and assistance to patients with communication difficulties.
86.Section 28 of the Act inserts section 261A to the 2003 Act, which places additional duties on appropriate persons, in respect of help with communication at certain medical examinations and interviews specified in subsection (4)(a) and (b).
87.If the subject of a medical examination has difficulty in communicating or generally communicates in a language other than English, all reasonable steps must be taken to make arrangements to ensure the subject of the medical examination can communicate during the examination. A written record must be made of the steps taken to facilitate this. Section 28 concludes by defining appropriate person for the purposes of this section; namely the Scottish Ministers in respect of a medical examination under section 136(2) of the 2003 Act (which is a medical examination for medical disordered prisoners) and otherwise, for examinations or interviews held in a hospital, the managers of that hospital, for examinations held elsewhere, the medical practitioner carrying it out, or for interviews, the mental health officer.
