Hospital Managers and Managers' Review of Detention Under the 1983 Mental Health Act
| Date | 01 June 1998 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322199700017 |
| Pages | 30-32 |
| Published date | 01 June 1998 |
| Author | Christopher Curran,Catherine Grimshaw |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
30 The Mental Health Review 2:2 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 1997
MENTAL HEALTH ACT UPDATE
Hospital Managers and Managers’
Review of Detention Under the
1983 Mental Health Act
Christopher Curran, Mental Health Social
Worker and Mental Health Act Commissioner
Catherine Grimshaw, Solicitor and
Mental Health Act Commissioner
Hospital Managers under
the 1983 Mental Health Act
‘The Managers’ are defined as the NHS Trust, health
authority or special health authority responsible for the
administration of the hospital; or in the case of a mental
nursing home, the person/s in whose name the home is
registered under Section 23(3)(c)5(b)&(6) of the
Registered Homes Act 1984.For the purposes of the 1983
Mental Health Act (MHA),it is important to differentiate
between ‘the Managers’ and any other hospital staff,
who may also be referred to as managers in terms of
ageneral management structure, such as a directorate
manager, but who are not ‘the Manager’ in respect
of the MHA.It is ‘the Managers’ who are the formal
detaining authority under the Act, not the Registered
Medical Practitioner/Responsible Medical Officer
(RMO) or Nominated Deputy (s.6(2) & s.40(1)). At
common law,‘the Managers/T
rust’ ‘…arelegally liable
for any deprivation of liberty which is not justified by
the Act’ (MHAC 1st Biennial Report, 1985).
The Mental Health (Amendment) Act 1994 changed
the definition of ‘the Managers’ of a Trust in s.145(1) of
the 1983 Act from ‘the directors of Trust’ to the ‘Trust’.
Non-executive directors will no longer be personally
liable for decisions taken about the discharge of
detained patients; liability now rests with the Trust as
acorporate body.From 14th April 1994, NHS T
rusts
can delegate ‘the Managers’ duties (s.23(4)(5)(a)&(b))
to a committee or a sub-committee. Executive directors
or employees of the T
rust cannot be members of this
committee/sub-committee. It may consist of non-
executive directors of the Trust/authority or outside
people or a combination of the two. As the Trust/
authority remains ultimately responsible for the
performance of the hospital Manager’s duties, it is
recommended that the sub-committee should always
include at least one member of the Trust.
Duties of hospital Managers include:
●
ensuring that the patient is lawfully detained
●
scrutinising statutory documents and ensuring that
minor errors are rectified in admission documents
●
arranging for the medical recommendations to be
medically scrutinised
●
providing certain information for patients (s.132)
and their nearest relatives (s.133)
●
informing patients about their right to apply to
aMental Health Review Tribunal (MHRT) and
aManagers’ Review (s.2, s.3 or s.37)
●
ensuring that when an MHRThas been arranged,
T
rust staff provide medical and social circumstances
reports within the time limits
●
convening a Managers’ Review in the circumstances
set out in the MHA Code of Practice
●
complying with the regulations in respect of a
transfer from one hospital to another (s.19)
●
ensuring there is a procedure if the RMO wishes
to discharge a detained patient (s.23)
●
considering reports under s.20 (duration of authority)
●
requesting a social circumstances report from the
relevant SSD if NR makes application
●
complying with s.23(2) and s.23(3) (discharge of
patients)
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