— "These appeals concern the proper meaning and operation of provisions governing the discharge from hospital of a mentally disordered patient who is compulsorily detained in a hospital for medical treatment, and their inter-relationship with provisions governing the use of leave of absence from hospital as a means of transitioning from secure conditions to discharge, contained in the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 ... I do not regard the “significant component” test as necessary, or indeed helpful, when deciding whether a patient's ongoing treatment is treatment in a hospital. The test has no statutory basis and is a gloss on the statutory words. I agree with the submission on behalf of RM that it risks unnecessary treatment being devised in an effort to ensure that the test is met and is arbitrary and subject to happenstance. For these reasons, it should no longer be followed. As explained, even when on authorised article 15 leave, the patient has a hospital at which he or she is detained when not on leave, and article 15 (with the liability to recall in article 15(5)) itself provides a sufficient connection to a hospital for a patient who is liable to be detained."
Full details available at: https://www.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/Re_RM_(Application_for_Judicial_Review_(Northern_Ireland))_(2024)_UKSC_7?id=041225-1333