Yes – under the Mental Health Act, a family member called your nearest relative will have certain powers related to your care.

The Mental Health Act says that your nearest relative has the right to:

• be given information about you
• ask for an independent mental health advocate to see you
• discharge you. To do this, your nearest relative will need to write to the hospital managers to discharge your CTO, giving them at least 72 hours’ notice in writing. If your responsible clinician doesn't object, your CTO will end once the 72 hours have passed. If your responsible clinician does object, they can make a report to the hospital managers that, in their view, you would act in a way that would be dangerous to yourself or others before the 72 hours are up.

To find out more about who your nearest relative is and what their rights are, see our information on the nearest relative.

This information was published in December 2017. We will revise it in 2019.