Who should write medical reports for Hospital Managers Hearings?

Law and practice Mental Health Act
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Should medical reports to Hospital Managers Panels always be completed by the R.C. or is it acceptable for someone else to put forward a report instead?

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The Code of Practice at para 38.27 states:

ā€œHospital managers should ensure that mechanisms are in place so that, in advance of the hearing, managersā€™ panels are provided with written reports from the patientā€™s responsible clinician and from other key individuals directly involved in the patientā€™s care as appropriate, such as the patientā€™s care co-ordinator, named nurse, social worker, occupational therapist or clinical psychologist.ā€

However, itā€™s common in Tribunals for a Core Trainee to draft the report and it be counter-signed by the RC. Iā€™d say the actual RCs arenā€™t available for around 30% of my hearings.

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Thank you for that itā€™s very useful. I donā€™t suppose there is any real come back if Code of Practice isnā€™t followed though?

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The Managers could keep adjourning if they think evidence from the RC is a necessity before moving forward with a review of the section.

The only avenue from the patients perspective would be JR - the case of Munjaz makes clear that a Code of Practice is legally binding unless there are good reasons to depart from it.

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Much appreciated Zac.

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Having been on the working group for the review of the Code and for that chapter in particular, my recollection is that ā€œā€¦panels are provided with written reports from the patientā€™s responsible clinicianā€¦ā€ was deliberately worded in that way, to reflect the fact that someone other than the RC could be the author, but the RC would ā€˜provideā€™ it, as in the report would be their responsibility and so i.e. they would counter-sign it to show that they had read and agreed with it. As is the case with reports for Tribunals.

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Thatrā€™s really useful Guy. I see what you are saying regarding ā€œprovided withā€. I can see your point.
On another issue, the Colonel Munjaz decision is very interesting re the status of the Code of Practice- I presume it was appealed but I donā€™t remember hearing about it.

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