Mental Health Act 1959

Procedure for hospital admission

25 Admission for observation

(1) A patient may be admitted to a hospital, and there detained for the period allowed by this section, in pursuance of an application (in this Act referred to as an application for admission for observation) made in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2) An application for admission for observation may be made in respect of a patient on the grounds—

(a) that he is suffering from mental disorder of a nature or degree which warrants the detention of the patient in a hospital under observation (with or without other medical treatment) for at least a limited period ; and

(b) that he ought to be so detained in the interests of his own health or safety or with a view to the protection of other persons.

(3) An application for admission for observation shall be founded on the written recommendations in the prescribed form of two medical practitioners, including in each case a statement that in the opinion of the practitioner the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2) of this section are complied with.

(4) Subject to the provisions of section fifty-two of this Act (in a case where an application is made under that section for transferring the functions of the nearest relative of the patient), a patient admitted to hospital in pursuance of an application for admission for observation may be detained for a period not exceeding twenty-eight days beginning with the day on which he is admitted, but shall not be detained thereafter unless, before the expiration of that period, he has become liable to be detained by virtue of a subsequent application, order or direction under any of the following provisions of this Act.

26 Admission for treatment

(1) A patient may be admitted to a hospital, and there detained for the period allowed by the following provisions of this Act, in pursuance of an application (in this Act referred to as an application for admission for treatment) made in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2) An application for admission for treatment may be made in respect of a patient on the grounds—

(a) that he is suffering from mental disorder, being—

(i) in the case of a patient of any age, mental illness or severe subnormality;

(ii) in the case of a patient under the age of twenty-one years, psychopathic disorder or subnormality; and that the said disorder is of a nature or degree which warrants the detention of the patient in a hospital for medical treatment under this section ; and

(b) that it is necessary in the interests of the patient's health or safety or for the protection of other persons that the patient should be so detained.

(3) An application for admission for treatment shall be founded on the written recommendations in the prescribed form of two medical practitioners, including in each case a statement that in the opinion of the practitioner the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2) of this section are complied with ; and each such recommendation shall include—

(a) such particulars as may be prescribed of the grounds for that opinion so far as it relates to the conditions set out in the said paragraph (a); and

(b) a statement of the reasons for that opinion so far as it relates to the conditions set out in the said paragraph (b), specifying whether other methods of dealing with the patient are available, and if so why they are not appropriate.

(4) An application for admission for treatment, and any recommendation given for the purposes of such an application, may describe the patient as suffering from more than one of the forms of mental disorder referred to in subsection (2) of this section; but the application shall be of no effect unless the patient is described in each of the recommendations as suffering from the same one of those forms of mental disorder, whether or not he is also described in either of those recommendations as suffering from another of those forms.

(5) An application for admission for treatment made on the ground that the patient is suffering from psychopathic disorder or subnormality, and no other form of mental disorder referred to in subsection (2) of this section, shall state the age of the patient, or, if his exact age is not known to the applicant, shall state (if it be the fact) that the patient is believed to be under the age of twenty-one years.

27 General provisions as to applications

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, an application for the admission of a patient for observation or for treatment may be made either by the nearest relative of the patient or by a mental welfare officer; and every such application shall be addressed to the managers of the hospital to which admission is sought and shall specify the qualification of the applicant to make the application.

(2) An application for admission for treatment shall not be made by a mental welfare officer if the nearest relative of the patient has notified that officer, or the local health authority by whom that officer is appointed, that he objects to the application being-made, and, without prejudice to the foregoing provision, shall not be made by such an officer except after consultation with the person (if any) appearing to be the nearest relative of the patient unless it appears to that officer that in the circumstances such consultation is not reasonably practicable or would involve unreasonable delay.

(3) No application for the admission of a patient shall be made by any person unless that person has personally seen the patient within the period of fourteen days ending with the date of the application.

(4) An application for the admission of a patient shall be sufficient if the recommendations on which it is founded are given either as separate recommendations, each signed by a medical practitioner, or as a joint recommendation signed by two such practitioners.

28 General provisions as to medical recommendations

(1) The recommendations required for the purposes of an application for the admission of a patient under this Part of this Act (in this Act referred to as " medical recommendations ") shall be signed on or before the date of the application, and shall be given by practitioners who have personally examined the patient either together or at an interval of not more than seven days.

(2) Of the medical recommendations given for the purposes of any such application, one shall be given by a practitioner approved for the purposes of this section by a local health authority as having special experience in the diagnosis Or treatment of mental disorder; and unless that practitioner has previous acquaintance with the patient, the other such recommendation shall, if practicable, be given by a medical practitioner who has such previous acquaintance.

(3) Where the application is for the admission of the patient to a hospital not being a mental nursing home, one (but not more than one) of the medical recommendations may be given by a practitioner on the staff of that hospital, except where the patient is proposed to be accommodated under section five of the National Health Service Act, 1946 (which relates to accommodation for private patients).

(4) A medical recommendation for the purposes of an application for the admission of a patient under this Part of this Act shall not be given by any of the following persons; that is to say—

(a) the applicant;

(b) a partner of the applicant or of a practitioner by whom another medical recommendation is given for the purposes of the same application;

(c) a person employed as an assistant by the applicant or by any such practitioner as aforesaid ;

(d) a person who receives or has an interest in the receipt of any payments made on account of the maintenance of the patient; or

(e) except as provided by subsection (3) of this section, a practitioner on the staff of the hospital to which the patient is to be admitted,

or by the husband, wife, father, father-in-law, mother, mother-in-law, son, son-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, sister or sister-in-law of the patient, or of any such person as aforesaid, or of a practitioner by whom another medical recommendation is given for the purposes of the same application.

29 Admission for observation in case of emergency

(1) In any case of urgent necessity, an application for admission for observation may be made in respect of a patient in accordance with the following provisions of this section, and any application so made is in this Act referred to as an emergency application.

(2) An emergency application may be made either by a mental welfare officer or by any relative of the patient; and every such application shall include a statement (to be verified by the medical recommendation first referred to in subsection (3) of this section) that it is of urgent necessity for the patient to be admitted and detained under section twenty-five of this Act, and that compliance with the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act relating to applications for admission for observation would involve undesirable delay.

(3) An emergency application shall be sufficient in the first instance if founded on one of the medical recommendations required by section twenty-five of this Act, given, if practicable, by a practitioner who has previous acquaintance with the patient and otherwise complying with the requirements of section twenty-eight of this Act so far as applicable to a single recommendation, but shall cease to have effect on the expiration of a period of seventy-two hours from the time when the patient is admitted to the hospital unless—

(a) the second medical recommendation required as aforesaid is given and received by the managers within that period; and

(b) that recommendation and the recommendation first referred to in this subsection together comply with all the requirements of the said section twenty-eight (other than the requirement as to the time of signature of the second recommendation).

(4) In relation to an emergency application, section twenty-seven of this Act shall have effect as if in subsection (3) of that section for the words " fourteen days " there were substituted the words " three days ".

30 Applications in respect of patients already in hospital

(1) An application for the admission of a patient to a hospital may be made under this Part of this Act—

(a) in any case, notwithstanding that the patient is already an in-patient in that hospital, not being liable to be detained in pursuance of an application under this Part of this Act;

(b) in the case of an application for admission for treatment, notwithstanding that the patient is for the time being liable to be detained in the hospital in pursuance of an application for his admission for observation;

and where an application is so made the patient shall be treated for the purposes of this Part of this Act as if he had been admitted to the hospital at the time when that application was received by the managers.

(2) If, in the case of a patient who is an in-patient in a hospital, not being liable to be detained therein under this Part of this Act, it appears to the medical practitioner in charge of the treatment of the patient that an application ought to be made under this Part of this Act for the admission of the patient to hospital, he may furnish to the managers a report in writing to that effect; and in any such case the patient may be detained in the hospital for a period of three days beginning with the day on which the report is so furnished.

31 Effect of application for admission

(1) An application for the admission of a patient to a hospital under this Part of this Act, duly completed in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act, shall be sufficient authority for the applicant, or any person authorised by the applicant, to take the patient and convey him to the hospital at any time within the following period, that is to say—

(a) in the case of an application other than an emergency application, the period of fourteen days beginning with the date on which the patient was last examined by a medical practitioner before giving a medical recommendation for the purposes of the application;

(b) in the case of an emergency application, the period of three days beginning with the date on which the patient was examined by the practitioner giving the medical recommendation first referred to in subsection (3) of section twenty-nine of this Act, or with the date of the application, whichever is the earlier.

(2) Where a patient is admitted within the said, period to the hospital specified in such an application as aforesaid, or, being within that hospital, is treated by virtue of section thirty of this Act as if he had been so admitted, the application shall be sufficient authority for the managers to detain the patient in the hospital in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(3) Any application for the admission of a patient under this Part of this Act which appears to be duly made and to be founded on the necessary medical recommendations may be acted upon without further proof of the signature or qualification of the person by whom the application or any such medical recommendation, is made or given, or of any matter of fact or opinion stated therein.

(4) A patient who is admitted to a hospital in pursuance of an application for admission for treatment may apply to a Mental Health Review Tribunal within the period of six months beginning with the day on which he is so admitted, or with the day on which he attains the age of sixteen years, whichever is the later.

(5) Where a patient is admitted to a hospital in pursuance of an application for admission for treatment, any previous application under this Part of this Act by virtue of which he was liable to be detained in a hospital or subject to guardianship shall cease to have effect.

32 Rectification of application and recommendations

(1) If within the period of fourteen days beginning with the day on which a patient has been admitted to a hospital in pursuance of an application for admission for observation or for treatment the application, or any medical recommendation given for the purposes of the application, is found to be in any respect incorrect or defective, the application or recommendation may, within that period and with the consent of the managers of the hospital, be amended by the person by whom it was signed ; and upon such amendment being made the application or recommendation shall have effect and shall be deemed to have had effect as if it had been originally made as so amended.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of the foregoing subsection, if within the period therein mentioned it appears to the managers of the hospital that one of the two medical recommendations on which an application for the admission of a patient is founded is insufficient to warrant the detention of the patient in pursuance of the application, they may, within that period, give notice in writing to that effect to the applicant; and where any such notice is given in respect of a medical recommendation, that recommendation shall be disregarded, but the application shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been, sufficient if—

(a) a fresh medical recommendation complying with the relevant provisions of this Part of this Act (other than the provisions relating to the time of signature and the interval between examinations) is furnished to the managers within that period ; and

(b) that recommendation, and the other recommendation on which the application is founded, together comply with those provisions.

(3) Where the medical recommendations upon which an application for admission is founded are, taken together, insufficient to warrant the detention of the patient in pursuance of the application, a notice under subsection (2) of this section may be given in respect of either of those recommendations; but this subsection shall not apply in a case where the application is of no effect by virtue of subsection (4) of section twenty-six of this Act.

(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising the giving of notice in respect of an application made as an emergency application under section twenty-nine of this Act, or the detention of a patient admitted in pursuance of such an application, after the period of seventy-two hours referred to in subsection (3) of that section, unless the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) and (b) of that subsection are complied with or would be complied with apart from any error or defect to which this section applies.