Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984

68 Powers of Secretary of State in respect of patients subject to restriction orders. E+W+S

(1) If the Secretary of State is satisfied that a restriction order in respect of a patient is no longer required for the protection of the public from serious harm, he may direct that the patient shall cease to be subject to the special restrictions set out in section 62(1) of this Act; and, where the Secretary of State so directs, the restriction order shall cease to have effect and subsection (3) of that section shall apply accordingly.

(2) At any time while a restriction order is in force in respect of a patient, the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, by warrant discharge the patient from hospital, either absolutely or subject to conditions; and where a person is absolutely discharged under this subsection he shall thereupon cease to be liable to be detained by virtue of the relevant hospital order, and the restriction order shall cease to have effect accordingly.

[F1 (2A) The Scottish Ministers shall not, however, discharge a patient from hospital under subsection (2) of this section if they are satisfied that the patient is suffering from a mental disorder the effect of which is such that it is necessary, in order to protect the public from serious harm, that the patient continue to be detained in a hospital, whether for medical treatment or not.

(2B) Nothing in section 102 (State hospitals) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (c.29) prevents or restricts the detention of a patient in a State hospital in pursuance of the decision of Scottish Ministers, under subsection (2A) of this section, not to discharge the patient.]

(3) The Secretary of State may, at any time during the continuance in force of a restriction order in respect of a patient who has been conditionally discharged under subsection (2) of this section, and without prejudice to his further discharge as aforesaid, 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, the hospital order and the restriction order shall have effect as if the hospital specified in the warrant were substituted for the hospital specified in the hospital order;

(b) in any case, the patient shall be treated for the purposes of section 28 of this Act as if he had absented himself without leave from the hospital specified in the warrant, and if the restriction order was made for a specified period, that period shall not in any event expire until the patient returns to the hospital or is returned to the hospital under that section.

(4) If a restriction order ceases to have effect in respect of a patient after the patient has been conditionally discharged under this section, the patient shall, unless previously recalled under the last foregoing subsection, be deemed to be absolutely discharged on the date when the order ceases to have effect, and shall cease to be liable to be detained by virtue of the relevant hospital order accordingly.

(5) The Secretary of State may, if satisfied that the attendance at any place in Great Britain of a patient who is subject to a restriction order 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 subsection to be taken to any place he shall, unless the Secretary of State 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.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 68(2A)(2B) inserted (S.) (13.9.1999) by 1999 asp 1, s. 1(3)(5)