Frequently asked questions on using forms
In order to provide feedback and/or log a query, please complete our feedback form and e-mail to the mental health law mailbox.
I downloaded a form from the website; I have filled some of it in and I can't save the changes. What's wrong?
You need Adobe Reader Version 7 or 8 to save the forms. Adobe Reader is available free from Adobe's website.
When downloading Adobe Reader you will be asked which operating system is running on your computer. You can discover this be opening 'my computer' (or Windows Explorer), then selecting menu item 'help'. If you then select sub-menu item 'about Windows', this will tell you the version of Windows you have.
Version 7 variants of Adobe Reader up to and including V7.0.3 only work with Windows XP and 2000. If you have Windows NT you will need Adobe Reader V7.0.5 or V8. Click here for further information.
If you have Adobe Reader Version 7 and are still experiencing problems saving forms, then it is advisable to completely uninstall Reader. To do this, go to 'control panel' and select 'add/remove programs'. When the removal is complete, shut down and restart your computer. You should then download and install the latest version of Reader, by following the link shown above.
My IT department says that if I want to save forms I need to buy Adobe Acrobat and the license costs hundreds of pounds per PC; is this right?
No; all you need is the free download of Adobe Reader (Version 8) to save forms.
I am completing a form; I want to append an already prepared report to the form rather than write the details in the box on the form; can I do this?
Yes; for any form with text boxes, you can append pages if you need more room than the box offers, or if you have material already prepared. Make sure any appendix is annotated with the patient's name and chi number. Also make a note in the box in the form that the details for this box are contained in the appended pages. If the box on the form has a reference number (e.g. CTO1_1), then put this on the appendix to help identify which box on the form the appendix relates to. Continuation sheets are best as plain paper. Please do not use a copy of the page which contains the text box you wish to continue as this causes problems during scanning of the forms.
I try to paste text from another document into a text box on my form and it won't paste. Why not?
Watch out for funny special characters; text fields on forms accept most standard characters, however unusual ones such as the ellipsis (one character comprising three dots), ampersand (symbol for 'and'), are not currently supported (the Commission are working on it). At present, if your text contains any of these characters, the paste will simply fail.