My wife was on a section 2 which ended and was put on a section 3.
She has made a good recovery and her mental health is much better.
She was allowed unsupervised leave 10 times a day for 20 minutes at a time to go for cigarettes. As her nearest relative i put in a discharge notice. Within 12 hours of me putting in the discharge notice she was put back on 1 to 1 observations so she could no longer go outside on her own and my discharge notice was disbarred.
I feel she is being unfairly treated as if she was a danger to herself or others she wouldn’t be allowed outside on her own. I feel that she was put back on 1 to 1 observations in an elaborate way for the hospital to disbar the discharge notice
Hi Paul
In short, I would recommend you take independent legal advice in respect of your legal right as nearest relative post the service of the barring order.
You should do this asap as you only have 28 days to apply to the tribunal post barring.
You should be entitled to non means tested legal aid.
Chose a lawyer local to you. The hospital can provide you a list of law society approved lawyers.
Hope this helps.
Ben Conroy
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Hi
The Dr putting a Barring order in place will trigger an automatic independent hospital manager hearing to assess if the barring order is warranted. If your wife contests her Section she will need a mental health solicitor, Independent hospital managers NOT are the managers that work at the hospital they are independently sourced and the detaining hospital will have to defend their decision to bar your discharge request. The detaining hospital should provide all this information along with a list of solicitors for you and your wife to select.
You/your wife can also appeal to the tribunal service and await a hearing that way. Again the detaining hospital should help you do this.
You can also request to see an independent mental health advocate, Again the detaining hospital should provide this service from an outside source.
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Hi Paul if the doctor does not agree to a discharge. It might be helpful to look at getting a mental health solicitor. And then put your case to a mental health tribunal. I think you can apply within the first six months after being put on section 3? But hopefully you will be able to come to some agreement with the doctor and team.
I agree with the advice above about getting a mental health lawyer. As nearest relative you would be entitled to non-means-tested legal aid in relation to tribunal proceedings. You’ve got 28 days from being informed of the barring order to make your own tribunal application (see section 66). The hospital managers’ review happens automatically, and is separate but has similarities.
It would be interesting to see what the medical records say about the smoking leave being rescinded. The lawyer would be able to find out easily.
We are awaiting for the hospital management to look at this and i think there is a meeting next week. I have got a mental health solicitor who is arranging a tribunal for us
I have instructed a mental health solicitor and have made the application for a tribunal. If my wife was a danger to herself or others she would not be allowed on the grounds as she could of walked off the grounds at any time in the 10 days previous. My wife has never harmed herself nor been violent to anybody else. I even asked some of the nursing staff who have been looking after my wife and they also dids think she was a danger to herself or others and has not been aggressive to them or any other patients which is why i cant understand whilst the barring order was put in place.
When my wife went out on her own it was outside the hospital so she could of walked off the hospital grounds at any time so if a danger to herself or others why would this be allowed? Just seems a bit suss that soon as i put in discharge notice this was changed. In my opinion it was done as the discharge notice could only be disbarred if the doctor believed if discharge poses a risk to herself or others. Yet for nearly 2 weeks before she could of walked off the grounds and got a bus outside the hospital.