Can the conditions be changed?
Yes – your responsible clinician can change or temporarily stop your conditions. They do not need the approved mental health professional's agreement to do this.
You can ask your responsible clinician to change the conditions by writing or speaking to them, and telling them the reasons why you want to change the conditions. Any changes to your conditions will be recorded on this form in England or this form in Wales.
If your responsible clinician doesn’t want to change the conditions, you can take these steps:
- Complain through the hospital’s complaints procedure. The hospital should be able to give you a copy of their complaints procedure if you ask them for it. If you are not happy with the response you can move on to the next step. You can also have a look at our guide on Complaining about health and social care for more information.
- Complain to the Care Quality Commission. To find out how to do this, see their guidance on how to complain.
- Apply for a judicial review. If your responsible clinician doesn’t change the condition, you might be able to apply to change them by judicial review. This is a legal process and it is important that you get specialist legal advice. (See Useful contacts for more information).
What happens if I don’t follow the conditions?
If you don’t follow the conditions, your responsible clinician may:
- change the conditions or the support you receive if there is a problem with them, or
- return you to hospital
You cannot be recalled just because you don't agree to medical treatment. As long as you have capacity to consent to treatment, you can only be given treatment if you consent to it. But there are different rules if you are recalled to hospital or do not have capacity. (See our page on recall to hospital to find out more.)
