Mental Health Act 1959

Residential Homes

19 Registration of residential homes under National Assistance Act, 1948

(1) Subject to the provisions of this and the next following section, sections thirty-seven to forty of the National Assistance Act, 1948 (which relate to the registration, inspection and conduct of homes for disabled persons and old persons) shall apply in relation to a residential home for mentally disordered persons as they apply in relation to homes to which those enactments applied immediately before the commencement of this Act.

(2) In this Part of this Act " residential home for mentally disordered persons" means an establishment the sole or main object of which is, or is held out to be, the provision of accommodation, whether for reward or not, for persons suffering from mental disorder, not being—

(a) a mental nursing home;

(b) a hospital as defined by this Act; or

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

and " registration authority ", in relation to a residential home for mentally disordered persons, has the meaning assigned thereto by subsection (2) of section thirty-seven of the National Assistance Act, 1948.

(3) A residential home for mentally disordered persons shall be deemed not to be a voluntary home within the meaning of Part V of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, or Part IV of the Children Act, 1948; and a child who is resident in a residential home for mentally disordered persons shall not be a foster child within the meaning of Part I of the Children Act, 1958, or a protected child within the meaning of Part IV of the Adoption Act, 1958.

20 Special provisions as to registration of residential homes

(1) It shall be a condition of the registration of any person in respect of a residential home for mentally disordered persons 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.

(2) If any condition imposed by or under subsection (1) 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 subsection (4) of section thirty-seven of the National Assistance Act, 1948, shall include power to cancel the registration on the ground that any such condition has not been complied with.

(3) In relation to residential homes for mentally disordered persons, section forty of the National Assistance Act, 1948, shall have effect as if paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of that section (which enables the Minister to make regulations for purposes corresponding with subsection (1) of this section) were omitted.

21 Records and inspection of residential homes

(1) The power of the Minister to make regulations under section forty of the National Assistance Act, 1948, with respect to the conduct of residential homes for mentally disordered persons shall include power to make regulations as to the records to be kept and notices to be given in respect of persons received in such homes.

(2) The powers of inspection conferred by section thirty-nine of the said Act, in its application to residential homes for mentally disordered persons, shall include power to inspect any records required to be, kept in accordance with regulations made by virtue of subsection (1) of this section under section forty of that Act.