An informal recommendation was made in a recent Tribunal to basically endorse the Doctors plan to refer to the National Psychosis Unit. The Judge asked me what Rule allowed the Tribunal to consent to the Doctor disclosing their written decision to assist her in moving forward with her treatment plan.
I was under the impression that there was not a specific TPR but rather the FTT could expressly give permission. I informed the Judge that i didn’t know but would look into it.
The hospital are a party to the tribunal proceedings and the tribunal decision will form part of the patient’s records, right? In the same way the doctor will disclose other information about the patient to the NPU, the tribunal decision can form part of that information.
I don’t think any specific permission is required but interested to see other views.
Hya
I am not sure it’s mentioned in the rule however Grant v MHRT (1986) The Times 28/4/86. It may make extra-statutory recommendations in similar terms, which are informal and non-binding in nature.
Hope this helps a bit
Steve
I think Angela is right to mention rule 14(7) which states:
Unless the Tribunal gives a direction to the contrary, information about mental health cases and the names of any persons concerned in such cases must not be made public.
But I also think Daniel is right that the decision is just part of the patient’s records. The decision will be based on information in the records that themselves could be shared within the health service, and I don’t think that such sharing would count as making the information “public”. There is nothing special about the tribunal decision in this context and the tribunal’s consent isn’t required (though in theory it could prohibit disclosure of information under rule 14(1)).
Thanks to everyone who replied. I have gone back to the Judge with both points and will be interesting to see what she decides to put in her written decision.