Mental Health Act 1959

Nursing Homes

14 Registration of nursing homes under Public Health Act

(1) Part VI of the Public Health Act, 1936 (which relates, among other things, to the registration of nursing homes) shall apply in relation to mental nursing homes as it applies to nursing homes to which the said Part VI applied immediately before the commencement of this Act, not being maternity homes, but shall so apply subject to the following provisions of this Part of this Act.

(2) In this Part of this Act " mental nursing home " means any premises used or intended to be used for the reception of, and the provision of nursing or other medical treatment for, one or more mentally disordered patients (whether exclusively or in common with other persons), not being—

(a) a hospital as defined by this Act;

(b) any other premises managed by a Government department or provided by a local authority;

(3) In this Part of this Act " registration authority ", in relation to a mental nursing home, means the council of the county or county borough in which the home is situated ; and the power of a county council under section one hundred and ninety-four of the Public Health Act, 1936, to delegate its functions under Part VI of that Act relating to nursing homes to the council of a county district shall include power to delegate its functions under this Part of this Act relating to mental nursing homes.

(4) Section one hundred and ninety-two of the Public Health Act, 1936 (which enables the registration authority to exempt certain voluntary institutions from the provisions of Part VI of that Act relating to nursing homes) shall not apply to mental nursing homes.

(5) Subject to the next following section, the registers to be kept by the registration authority under the said Part VI as applied by this Part of this Act shall be in such form, and shall contain such particulars as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Minister; and such regulations may make provision as to the information to be supplied on applications for registration in respect of mental nursing homes.

15 Special provisions as to registration of nursing homes

(1) Any application for registration under the said Part VI in respect of a mental nursing home shall specify whether or not it is proposed to receive therein patients who are liable to be detained under the following provisions of this Act; and where any person is so registered in pursuance of an application stating that it is proposed to receive such patients, that fact shall be specified in the certificate of registration, and the particulars of the registration shall be entered by the registration authority in a separate part of the register.

(2) It shall be a condition of the registration of any person in respect of a mental nursing home that the number of persons kept at any one time in the home (excluding persons carrying on or employed in the home and their families) does not exceed such number as may be specified in the certificate of registration ; and without prejudice to the foregoing provision, the registration may be effected subject to such conditions (to be specified in the certificate) as the registration authority consider appropriate for regulating the age, sex or other category of persons who may be received in the home.

(3) If any condition imposed by or under subsection (2) of this section is not complied with, the person carrying on the home shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction, in the case of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding five pounds and in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds; and without prejudice to the foregoing provision, the power of the registration authority to cancel registration under section one hundred and eighty-eight of the Public Health Act, 1936, shall include power to cancel the registration on the ground that any such condition has not been complied with.

16 Conduct of mental nursing homes

(1) The Minister may make regulations as to the conduct of mental nursing homes, and such regulations may in particular—

(a) make provision as to the facilities and services to be provided in such homes ; and

(b) provide that a contravention or failure to comply with any specified provision of the regulations shall be an offence against the regulations.

(2) Any person guilty of an offence against regulations made under subsection (1) of this section shall be liable on summary conviction, in the case of a first offence, to a fine not exceeding five pounds and in the case of a second or subsequent offence, to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds; and without prejudice to the foregoing provision, the power of the registration authority to cancel registration under section one hundred and eighty-eight of the Public Health Act, 1936, shall include power to cancel the registration of any person on the ground that he has been convicted of such an offence.

(3) A registration authority may, and shall if so required by the Minister, make separate byelaws in respect of mental nursing homes under section one hundred and ninety of the Public Health Act, 1936 (which enables byelaws to prescribe the records to be kept and notices to be given in respect of patients in nursing homes).

17 Inspection of mental nursing homes and visiting of patients

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, any person authorised in that behalf by the Minister or by the registration authority may, at any time, after producing, if asked to do so, some duly authenticated document showing that he is so authorised, enter and inspect any premises in the area of the authority which are used, or which that person has reasonable cause to believe to be used, for the purposes of a mental nursing home, and may inspect any records kept in accordance with byelaws made under section one hundred and ninety of the Public Health Act, 1936.

(2) A person authorised under subsection (1) of this section to inspect a mental nursing home may visit and interview in private any mentally disordered patient residing in the home—

(a) for the purpose of investigating any complaint as to his treatment made by or on behalf of the patient; or

(b) in any case where the person so authorised has reasonable cause to believe that the patient is not receiving proper care;

and where the person so authorised is a medical practitioner, he may examine the patient in private and may require the production of and inspect any medical records relating to the treatment of the patient in the nursing home.

(3) Regulations under subsection (1) of section sixteen of this Act may make provision with respect to the exercise on behalf of registration authorities of the powers conferred by this section; and such regulations may in particular provide—

(a) for imposing conditions or restrictions with respect to the exercise of those powers in relation to mental nursing homes which, immediately before the commencement of this Act, were registered hospitals; and

(b) subject as aforesaid, for requiring the inspection of mental nursing homes under subsection (1) of this section to be carried out on such occasions, or at such intervals, as may be prescribed by the regulations.

(4) In this section " registered hospital" means a hospital registered as mentioned in subsection (9) of section two hundred and thirty-one of the Lunacy Act, 1890.

(5) Section one hundred and ninety-one of the Public Health Act, 1936 (which relates to inspection) shall not apply to mental nursing homes or any premises used or believed to be used as such.

18 Continuance of special registration on cancellation or death

(1) If in the case of a mental nursing home the particulars of the registration of which are entered in the separate part of the register referred to in subsection (1) of section fifteen of this Act the registration is cancelled under section one hundred and eighty-eight of the Public Health Act, 1936, at a time when any patient is liable to be detained in the home under any of the following provisions of this Act, the registration shall, notwithstanding the cancellation, continue in force until the expiration of the period of two months beginning with the date of the cancellation, or until every such patient has ceased to be so liable, whichever first occurs.

(2) If the person registered in respect of any such mental nursing home as aforesaid (not being one of two or more persons so registered) dies at a time when any patient is liable to be detained therein as aforesaid, the registration shall continue in force—

(a) as from the grant of representation to the estate of the deceased, for the benefit of the personal representative of the deceased ; and

(b) pending the grant of such representation, for the benefit of any person approved for the purpose by the registration authority,

until the expiration of the period of two months beginning with the death, or until every such patient has ceased to be so liable, or until a person other than the deceased has been registered in respect of the home, whichever first occurs; and for the purposes of Part VI of the Public Health Act, 1936, and of this Act any person for whose benefit the registration continues in force under this subsection shall be treated as registered in respect of the home.