Section 121: Guidance about the power to remove etc
684.Subsection (1) gives the appropriate national authority a power to produce guidance to relevant NHS bodies and authorised officers about the power of removal and subsection (2) lists issues that may be covered in the guidance. The Secretary of State will produce guidance for English NHS bodies and their authorised officers in relation to English NHS premises, and Welsh Ministers will produce guidance for Welsh NHS bodies and their authorised officers in relation to Welsh NHS premises.
685.The guidance is expected to outline procedures for authorising NHS staff members to safely authorise and exercise the power of removal. This may include, for example, the grade and role of staff considered suitable. The guidance is likely to include reference to the type of training that these staff would be expected to have received before their authorisation; matters to be taken into account by an authorised officer in deciding whether a person has committed or is committing an offence under section 119 and whether that person can and should be removed; reference to the need for an authorised officer to consult an appropriate medical practitioner to determine whether a person requires medical advice, treatment or care or whether removal would harm his physical or mental health; reference to the degree of force that may be appropriate for authorised officers or authorised NHS staff members to use when removing an offender; and an outline of administrative procedures to be followed, for example, for informing persons using the premises of the offence and power of removal and keeping records of incidents in which the power of removal has been used.
686.Subsection (3) requires the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers respectively, to consult such persons as each considers appropriate before publishing any guidance under this section.
687.Subsection (4) provides that English and Welsh NHS bodies and authorised officers themselves must have regard to the relevant guidance published by the appropriate national authority when exercising their functions under, or in connection with, these sections.
