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MENTAL HEALTH ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1961 - SECT 54

Powers of Minister in respect of patients subject to restriction orders.

54.(1) If the Minister is satisfied that an order restricting the discharge of
a patient is no longer required for the protection of the public, he may
direct that the patient shall cease to be subject to the special restrictions
set out in section fifty-three; and where the Minister so directs, the order
restricting the discharge of the patient shall cease to have effect, and
sub-section (5) of that section shall have effect accordingly.

(2) At any time while an order restricting the discharge of a patient is in
force, the Minister may, if he thinks fit, by warrant discharge the patient
from hospital, either absolutely or subject to conditions; and where a patient
is absolutely discharged under this sub-section, he shall thereupon cease to
be liable to be detained by virtue of the relevant hospital order, and
accordingly the order restricting his discharge shall cease to have effect.

(3) The Minister may at any time during the continuance in force of an order
restricting the discharge of a patient who has been conditionally discharged
under sub-section (2), by warrant recall the patient to such hospital as may
be specified in the warrant; and thereupon

(a)if the hospital so specified is not the hospital from which the patient was
conditionally discharged, paragraph (b) of sub-section (2) of section
fifty-one shall have effect as if the hospital specified in the warrant were
substituted for the hospital designated by [the Ministry] under paragraph (a)
of that sub-section; and

(b)in any case, the patient shall be treated for the purposes of section
thirty as if he had absented himself without leave from the hospital specified
in the warrant, and if the order restricting his discharge was made for a
specified period, that period shall in any event be deemed not to have expired
until the patient returns to hospital or is returned to hospital under that
section.

(4) If an order restricting the discharge of a patient ceases to have effect
after the patient has been conditionally discharged under sub-section (2),
the patient shall, unless previously recalled under sub-section (3), be deemed
to be absolutely discharged on the date when the order ceases to have effect,
and accordingly shall cease to be liable to be detained by virtue of the
relevant hospital order.

(5) The Minister may, if satisfied that the attendance at any place in
Northern Ireland of a patient who is subject to an order restricting discharge
is desirable in the interests of justice or for the purposes of any public
inquiry, direct him to be taken to that place; and where a patient is directed
under this sub-section to be taken to any place he shall, unless the Minister
otherwise directs, be kept in custody while being so taken, while at that
place and while being taken back to the hospital in which he is liable to be
detained.

(6) The Minister may at any time refer to the Review Tribunal for their advice
the case of a patient who is for the time being subject to an order
restricting his discharge, and, where so requested in writing in accordance
with sub-section (7) by such a patient who is detained in hospital, shall do
so within the period of two months beginning with the receipt of the request
unless during that period the patient is discharged absolutely or
conditionally under sub-section (2) or the order restricting his discharge
ceases to have effect.

(7) A patient may make a request under sub-section (6) to the Minister

(a)within the period of six months beginning with the date of the relevant
hospital order or with the day on which he attains the age of sixteen years,
whichever is the later;

(b)within each period during which he could have made an application to
the Review Tribunal if he had been subject to a hospital order without an
order restricting his discharge and the authority for his detention had been
renewed at the requisite intervals.

(8) Where a patient subject to an order restricting his discharge has been
conditionally discharged under sub-section (2) and subsequently recalled to
hospital, sub-section (7) shall apply as if the relevant hospital order had
been made on the day on which he returns or is returned to hospital, but he
may also make one such request as aforesaid between the expiration of the
period of six months and the expiration of the period of one year beginning
with that day.

© 1961 Crown Copyright

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