Unless the patient requests otherwise, where a patient’s guardianship becomes vested in the local social services authority or the functions of a guardian are, during the guardian’s incapacity, transferred to the authority or a person approved by it under section 10 (transfer of guardianship in case of death, incapacity, etc of guardian), the responsible local social services authority must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to cause the person (if any) appearing to be the patient’s nearest relative to be informed of that vesting, or as the case may be, transfer before it takes place or as soon as practicable thereafter.