# Patient's return to hospital after unsuccessful discharge from s2

**URL:** <https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/t/patients-return-to-hospital-after-unsuccessful-discharge-from-s2/3321>\
**Category:** Mental Health Act\
**Created:** [23 February 2025 20:31 UTC](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/t/patients-return-to-hospital-after-unsuccessful-discharge-from-s2/3321 "2025-02-23T20:31:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Daisy2019](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@Daisy2019](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/u/Daisy2019)\
**Post date:** [23 February 2025 20:31 UTC](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/t/patients-return-to-hospital-after-unsuccessful-discharge-from-s2/3321/1 "2025-02-23T20:31:44Z")

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Hi i wanted to ask what is the time frame that a failed discharge option can be used for P to go back in hospital back on s2 that P was discharged from. And who can do this admission back in. Can the P do themselves or can the psych liason team at A&E do this referal or does a new MHA needs to be completed .

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**Author:** ![martcol](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/user_avatar/forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/martcol/32/102_2.png) [@martcol](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/u/martcol)\
**Post date:** [23 February 2025 21:40 UTC](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/t/patients-return-to-hospital-after-unsuccessful-discharge-from-s2/3321/2 "2025-02-23T21:40:47Z")

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If a person has been discharged from admission under the act then that’s it. For the person to go back to hospital it would require a further MHA assessment or a voluntary admission.

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**Author:** ![CaptainWalker](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/user_avatar/forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/captainwalker/32/159_2.png) [@CaptainWalker](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/u/CaptainWalker)\
**Post date:** [8 March 2025 15:07 UTC](https://forum.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/t/patients-return-to-hospital-after-unsuccessful-discharge-from-s2/3321/3 "2025-03-08T15:07:25Z")

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> [@Daisy2019](#):
>
> And who can do this admission back in. Can the P do themselves or can the psych liason team at A&E do this referal or does a new MHA needs to be completed

The relevant words are ‘_admission_’ and ‘_hospital_’. Unfortunately whilst the words seem simple enough to ordinary people, the issues are not simple at all.

Admission under detention of any kind depends on bed availability in a hospital. That has been a national nightmare across this land for the last 30 years and it’s only growing worse.

The completion of a section (2 and 3) will depend on an AMHP agreeing to support the _recommendations_ of two medical doctors by way of a thing called ‘_application_’. The ‘triangle’ must be complete.

But…but… “ **no beds** ” - where tails wag the Parliamentary head - means that AMHPs are frequently hamstrung to complete their ‘applications’. As I have argued in other threads ‘_application_’ is therefore more powerful than two medical recommendations - because the AMHP can overrule two doctors. NO doctor can make an application.

But unbeknownst to many in an emergency situation the Nearest Relative has more power than any doctor - because the NR can make that **all powerful** ‘application’, which if enacted would send people running around like headless chickens.

Let’s learn: S4 states, “_An emergency application may be made either by an approved mental health professional or by the nearest relative of the patient; and every such application shall include a statement that it is of urgent necessity for the patient to be admitted and detained under section 2 above, and that compliance with the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to applications under that section would involve undesirable delay._”

[**Caution** : this is not advice to you to trigger a S4. I am just stating what the law says and the power of the Nearest Relative in a specific situation.]