LEGAL EAGLE Being made ‘nearest relative’ when a person is sectioned
“My family member has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act and I have been told that I am their nearest relative. What does this mean?”
When someone is “sectioned”, this means that they are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA).
It usually refers to the person being required to stay in hospital foraperiodofeither28daysforassessment(section2),orminimum periods of six months for medical treatment (section 3). People can only be detained under the MHA if two doctors (one of whom is a specialist psychiatrist) and a social worker who is trained to deal with mental health work all agree that they need to be detained in hospital, and there is no reasonable alternative to that.
What does being someone’s nearest relative mean?
Ifsomeoneisinhospitalunder asection2or3,theMHAgivescertainrightstotheirnearestrelative.
As someone’s nearest relative you must be consulted before your relative is detained under a section 3.
If your relative is detained under section 2 or section 3 of the MHA, then you can object to this.
You can do so by ordering discharge of your relatives’ section by giving the Hospital Managers 72 hours’ notice in writing of your intentiontodischargethesection.
What would happen if I ordered a discharge of my relative’s section?
Yourelative’sresponsibleclinician(RC)willhavetodecidewithin the72-hournoticeperiodwhether toallowyoutoorderthedischarge or to bar you from doing so.
IftheRCissuesabarringorder then the Hospital Managers’ will decide whether you should be allowed to discharge the section, they will usually hold a hearing to consider this.
If your relative is detained under a section 3 and your order of discharged is barred, then you will have the right to appeal to the Mental Health Tribunal. Legal aid is available for appeals to the Mental Health Tribunal on a non means tested basis.
If it is decided that you have ordered your relatives discharge without due regards to your relative’s welfare or to the interests of the public, then an application could be made to the court.
The application could be to have you removed from the Nearest Relative Role and replaced with someone else.
If the RC does not issue a barring order, then your relative’s section will be discharged after the 72-hour notice period comes to an end.