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Guide for medical practitioners on the granting of
an emergency detention certificate under section 36 of the Mental Health (Care and
Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003
Note 1: Any registered medical
practitioner may grant an emergency detention certificate.
You do not have to be an approved medical practitioner.
Note 2: Section 328(1) of the Act defines
"mental disorder" as "mental illness, personality disorder
or learning disability, however caused or manifested".
Section 328(2) further states that a person is not mentally
disordered by reason only of sexual orientation; sexual
deviancy; trans-sexualism; transvestism; dependence on, or
use of alcohol or drugs; behaviour that causes, or is
likely to cause, harassment, alarm or distress to an other
person; or acting as no prudent person would act.
Note 3: The relevant provisions are set
out at section 36(2) of the Act and they are: an emergency
detention certificate; a short-term detention certificate;
an extension certificate issued under section 47 of the Act
pending an application for a
CTO; section 68 of the Act (i.e. the
extension to the detention period authorised once a
CTO application has been submitted to
the Tribunal); a certificate granted under sections 114(2)
or 115(2) of the Act (i.e. a certificate issued subsequent
to a patient's non-compliance with the terms of a
community-based interim
CTO or a
CTO). [
DN - Add something in about definition
of "immediately before"? (depending on content of Code on
this point)]
Note 4: [
DN - conflict of interest material to be
added once regs/Code of Practice material have been
finalised]
Note 5: The medical practitioner must
consult and seek the consent of an
MHO to the granting of the certificate.
All reasonable efforts should be make to contact an
MHO. However, where the urgency of the
situation is so great that it would not be practicable for
this consultation to take place then it is permissible for
the practitioner to grant the
EDC without consent. [
DN - Add in best practice material about
consulting and discussing the situation with other members
of the multi-disciplinary team depending on what the final
version of the Code says.]
Note 6: Best practice would be that if one
MHO refuses to grant consent, then ....
[
DN - revise according to the final
version of the Code]
Note 7: A valid emergency detention
certificate can be issued on any document if form [x] is
not available. However, it is strongly recommended that
form [x] be used in all circumstances. If form [x] is not
used, the emergency detention certificate must state the
practitioner's reasons for believing the conditions
mentioned at points 1 and 2 on the blue box overleaf to be
met and must be signed by the medical practitioner.
Note 8: The emergency detention
certificate must be completed either by the end of the day
on which the medical examination takes place (if the
examination takes place before 8pm) or within 4 hours of
the medical examination being completed (if it takes place
after 8pm).
Note 9: The emergency detention
certificate authorises, first, the patient's transfer to
hospital within 72 hours of the certificate being granted;
and, secondly, the patient's detention in hospital for 72
hours.
Note 10: Section 36(7) of the Act states
that the patient's detention in hospital is only authorised
is the emergency detention certificate is given to the
managers of the hospital before the patient is admitted to
hospital under the authority of the certificate. If the
patient is already in hospital when the certificate is
granted, then the certificate must be given to the hospital
managers as soon as practicable after it was granted [
DN - clarification of "hospital
managers" required? depends on final content of Code on
this point].
The purpose of this leaflet is to act as a guide
only. It does not provide full and comprehensive
coverage of everything you ought to know about
emergency detention. For fuller information, please
consult the Act and its Code of Practice.
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