[...]... Scottish Mental Health Act uses the term mental handicap’ rather than mental impairment’.) The Mental Health Act 1983 also introduced a separate treatability test for psychopathic disorder and mental impairment Detention orders were effectively halved in length and opportunities to apply for a Mental Health Review Tribunal hearing doubled Tribunal hearings were to be made available to 28-day assessment... social worker is an officer of a local social services authority appointed to act as an approved social worker for the purposes of the Mental Health Act Note that a social worker employed by a private hospital is not an officer of a local social services authority and, therefore, cannot be an approved social worker Hospital This means: ■ ■ any health- service hospital within the meaning of the National Health. .. Health Service Act 1977; any accommodation provided by a local authority and used as a hospital by or on behalf of the Secretary of State under the National Health Service Act 1977 Managers Hospital In relation to a hospital as defined above, the term ‘the managers’ usually refers to the board of the National Health Service (NHS) Trust responsible for the administration of the hospital The board may... 1959 in England and Wales as well as the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960 and the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Act in 1961 The Mental Health Act 1959 led to voluntary informal admissions being the usual method of psychiatric hospital admission No longer was a positive statement of such willingness to be admitted on the part of the patient required All judicial controls on compulsory admission were... the Act, be blocked by the hospital managers if the doctor in charge of the case certifies that the patient needs to remain in hospital In this case, the nearest relative may make an application to a Mental Health Review Tribunal within 28 days Section 25 of the Act is as follows: 1 2 An order for discharge of a patient who is liable to be detained in a hospital shall not be made by his nearest relative... consultation is not reasonably practicable or would involve unreasonable delay The nearest relative can prevent this application being made Under Section 11(4): Neither an application for admission for treatment nor a guardianship application shall be made by an approved social worker if the nearest relative of the patient has notified that social worker, or the local social services authority by whom that... compulsory admission under the Mental Health Act The local hospital switchboard, police station or social services department will have details of the on-call approved social worker Although, under the Mental Health Act, the nearest relative can be the applicant, the Code of Practice makes it clear that the approved social worker is usually the right applicant In most circumstances, the GP should therefore advise... upon any of the following grounds: (a) that the patient has no nearest relative within the meaning of this Act, or that it is not reasonably practicable to ascertain whether he has such a relative, or who that relative is; (b) that the nearest relative of the patient is incapable of acting as such by reason of mental disorder or other illness; (c) that the nearest relative of the patient unreasonably... social worker (although the patient’s nearest relative can make the application) If the applicant is an approved social worker, then he or she must inform the patient’s nearest relative that the application is being (or has been) made, either before or within a reasonable time of making the application The nearest relative cannot prevent this application from being made The applicant (approved social... mind’ and asylums became mental hospitals’ Voluntary admission was by written application to the person in charge of the hospital, but magistrates continued to be involved in overseeing compulsory hospital admissions The Act also allowed local authorities to establish psychiatric outpatient clinics in both general and mental hospitals and organize aftercare for discharged patients, but services remained . Scottish Mental Health Act uses the term mental handicap’ rather than mental impairment’.) The Mental Health Act 1983 also introduced a separate treatability. disabilities (by Angela Hassiotis) 189 20 Race, culture and mental health 200 21 Mental capacity and international comparison of mental health legislation