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MENTAL HEALTH ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1961 - SECT 19

Further provisions as to period of detention.

19.(1) A patient admitted to hospital in pursuance of an application for
admission shall not be detained therein for a period exceeding that allowed by
sub-section (4) of section twelve, unless not earlier than fourteen days
before, nor later than twenty-one days after, the date on which he is admitted
to hospital, a medical practitioner, appointed for the purposes of this
section by [the Ministry], who has examined the patient makes a report in the
prescribed form (in this Part referred to as "a medical report") to the
[Health and Social Services Board administering] the hospital to which
the patient is to be, or has been, admitted, stating

(a)that, in his opinion, the patient is suffering from mental disorder of a
nature or degree which warrants his detention in hospital; and

(b)that, in his opinion, it is necessary that the patient should be so
detained in the interests of his own health or safety or for the protection of
other persons; and

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

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

(2) Where any such medical practitioner reports to the [Health and Social
Services Board] as mentioned in sub-section (1), a patient admitted to
hospital in pursuance of an application for admission may, subject to the
provisions of this Act, be detained in that hospital for a period not
exceeding six months beginning with the day on which he was so admitted, but
shall not be so detained for any longer period unless the authority for his
detention is renewed in accordance with this Part.

(3) A medical report shall not be given by any of the following persons, that
is to say

(a)the person making the application for the admission of the patient; or

(b)the medical practitioner who gave the recommendation for admission for the
purposes of the admission of the patient; or

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

(4) An application for admission and any recommendation for admission or
medical report may describe the patient as being mentally ill or as requiring
special care, or in both those ways, but the medical report shall not be of
any effect unless both the recommendation for admission and the medical report
(whether or not they also describe the patient in both those ways) describe
the patient as being mentally ill or, as the case may be, as requiring special
care.

(5) A patient who is admitted to a hospital in pursuance of an application for
admission may apply to the 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.

(6) Any medical report which appears to be duly made may be acted upon without
further proof of the signature or qualification of the person by whom it is
made, or of any matter of fact or opinion stated therein.

© 1961 Crown Copyright

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