R v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council ex parte C

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date1993
Year1993
Date1993
CourtCourt of Appeal (Civil Division)

LLOYD, STUART-SMITH AND FARQUHARSON, L JJ

Child – medical assessment – child of 12 in care of local authority – child behaving in violent and self-destructive manner – whether local authority could consent to child's admission to hospital for psychiatric assessment.

A girl aged 12 was in the care of the local authority under a care order made on 2 November 1989. She was placed in an assessment centre. For two weeks she was violent and disruptive and on 16 November 1989 she was seen by a consultant in child and adolescent psychiatry who concluded that she was a suicide risk. He told the child's social worker that if her self-destructive behaviour continued he would admit her to hospital. The child's behaviour continued. On 18 November 1989, at the request of the local authority, the child was admitted to hospital so that the doctor could make an assessment of her needs. The child applied for judicial review of the local authority's decision to arrange for her admission to hospital. Kennedy, J dismissed her application.

The child appealed.

Held – dismissing the appeal: The provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 did not cover the position of a person who was not suffering from a mental disorder. However, there was nothing at common law to inhibit or restrict the admission to hospital of a patient for assessment provided the patient consented. In the case of a minor who was not of sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what was proposed, the child's parent or, if the child was in care, the local authority, could consent to admission to hospital on the child's behalf. In this case the local authority were of opinion that the child was not competent to give consent to her admission. That opinion was justified on the facts. The local authority were, therefore, competent to consent on the child's behalf.

Decision of Kennedy, J [1992] 2 FCR 321 affirmed.

Statutory provisions referred to:

Child Care Act 1980, s 10 and 21(2)(a).

Children Act 1989, s 25.

Mental Health Act 1983, ss 2, 3, 131 and 145(1).

Cases referred to in judgment:

Fletcher v Fletcher (1859) 120 ER 967.

Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority [1986] AC 112; [1985] 3 WLR 830; [1985] 3 All ER 402.

Malone v Metropolitan Police Commissioner [1979] Ch 344; [1979] 2 All ER 620.

R v Coate, the Keeper of a Madhouse (1772) 98 ER 539.

Additional case cited:

W (A Minor) (Medical Treatment: Court's Jurisdiction), Re[1992] 2 FCR 785; [1993] Fam 64; [1992] 3 WLR 758; [1992] 4 All ER 627.

Elizabeth Lawson, QC and Antony White for the child.

Shaun Spencer, QC and Eleanor Hamilton for the local authority.

LORD JUSTICE LLOYD.

On 9 June 1989 a girl aged 12 was remanded to the care of Kirklees Metropolitan Council following certain criminal offences. On 20 July 1989 she was made subject to a supervision order and returned to the care of her father. But she committed further offences almost at once. On 2 August 1989 she was placed at Westfields Assessment Centre for assessment. On 2 November 1989 a juvenile court at Huddersfield made a care order following three further offences of burglary committed on 24 September and 15 October 1989. She was returned to Westfields.

During the course of the next fortnight she was violent and disruptive. Things became so bad that on 16 November it was decided to make an appointment for the child to be seen by Dr Gay as an out-patient. Dr Gay is an consultant in child and adolescent psychiatry at St Luke's Hospital, Crosland Moor, Huddersfield. Dr Gay saw the child on the morning of 17 November 1989. He was concerned by her behaviour. She had told staff that she did not want to live. She had threatened to jump out of a window and had cut herself on a number of occasions with bits of broken glass. Dr Gay concluded, as he says in his affidavit, that she was a suicide risk. However, he decided not to admit her there and then, but instead told her social worker, Miss Jeanette Hunt, that if her self-destructive behaviour continued he would be willing to admit her to St Luke's. Miss Hunt did her best to contact the child's parents, but without success.

The residential child care officer at Westfields kept a close watch on the child during the afternoon and early evening of 17 November. She noticed a number of fresh cuts on the child's hands. The next thing was that the child had managed to escape through a window by knotting two sheets together. She was returned by the police at 10.45 pm. At 11.30 pm the resident child care officer rang St Luke's, where it had been ascertained that a bed was available. Before leaving Westfields the child was seen by Mr Safhill, the deputy officer in charge. He explained to the child why there was so...

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4 cases
  • St George's Healthcare NHS Trust v S; R v Collins and Others, ex parte S
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • Invalid date
    ...775, [1985] 3 WLR 1090, CA. Patten v Burke Publishing Co Ltd [1991] 2 All ER 821, [1991] 1 WLR 541. R v Kirklees Metropolitan BC, ex p C[1993] 2 FCR 381, R v Managers of South Western Hospital, ex p M [1993] QB 683, [1994] 1 All ER 161, [1993] 3 WLR 376. R v Wilson, ex p Williamson [1996] C......
  • The Queen v Louize Collins and Others ex parte "S"
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 7 May 1998
    ...of mental disorder. Section 2 is directed to admission for "assessment" and not a final diagnosis. In R v Kirklees MBC, Ex parte C [1993] 2 FLR 187 Lloyd LJ commented "……There is in my view, power to admit a patient for assessment under s2, if he appears to be suffering from mental disorder......
  • R v Bournewood Community and Mental Health NHS Trust, ex parte L (Secretary of State for Health intervening)
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 2 December 1997
    ...be an abnormal situation. 80The next case to which reference should be made is R v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council ex parte 'C' [1993] 2 FLR 187. 'C' was not in a position to give consent to treatment for a mental disorder. However, in these circumstances the Local Authority was entit......
  • Tan Guek Tian v Tan Kim Kiat
    • Malaysia
    • High Court (Malaysia)
    • 1 January 2007

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