Consent to treatment
Explains your rights around giving consent to or refusing treatment. Find out what consent means, when you could be treated without your consent, and how to make complaints.
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Overview of consent to treatment
Healthcare professionals may suggest certain kinds of treatments for your mental health problem. But in most situations, they can't lawfully treat you unless you agree to that treatment. This is called giving consent.
Quick facts
- Generally, you need to give your consent before receiving any kind of health treatment.
- To give consent, you need to have capacity to decide, have enough information to make that decision, and give your consent freely.
- If you're treated without your consent, this is usually against the law. However, there are some exceptions. You can legally receive treatment without your consent if:
- You are detained, also called sectioned, under some sections of the Mental Health Act. For more information, see our pages on sectioning.
- You don't have capacity to decide whether to have treatment. For more information, see our pages on capacity.
- It's an emergency life-saving treatment.
- The rules on being treated without your consent are slightly different depending on whether you are:
- Living in the community without restrictions. For example, at home or in a care home.
- A voluntary patient. For example, having in-patient treatment in a psychiatric hospital of your own free will.
- On a community treatment order (CTO).
- In hospital under a section of the Mental Health Act.
- If you don't have capacity to make a decision about treatment, the health professional in charge of your treatment will normally make a decision for you. They have to consider your best interests when doing this.
- If you're worried that you may one day lose capacity to make your own decisions about treatment, you can plan ahead. This might include making an advance decision, advance statement or lasting power of attorney.
- If you feel that you've been forced to have treatment that you haven't given consent to, you can make a complaint.
Best interests
Health professionals must act in your best interests before taking certain steps that affect your care and treatment.
The Mental Capacity Act has a best interests checklist, which outlines what health professionals need to consider before taking an action or decision for you while you lack capacity.
See our pages on the Mental Capacity Act for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsConsent
Consent is you agreeing with another person about an action that they’ve proposed.
The law says that consent is only valid if you:
- have capacity to decide
- have enough information to make that decision, and
- give your consent freely.
Capacity
'Capacity' means the ability to understand information and make decisions about your life. Sometimes it can also mean the ability to communicate decisions about your life.
For example, if you do not understand the information and are unable to make a decision about your treatment, you are said to 'lack capacity' to make decisions about your treatment.
See our pages on the Mental Capacity Act for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsSection
Being 'sectioned' means that you are kept in hospital under the Mental Health Act. There are different types of sections, each with different rules to keep you in hospital. The length of time that you can be kept in hospital depends on which section you are detained under.
See our pages on sectioning for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsMental Health Act 1983 (MHA)
This is a law that applies to England and Wales which allows people to be detained in hospital (sectioned) if they have a mental health disorder and need treatment. You can only be kept in hospital if certain conditions are met.
See our pages on the Mental Health Act for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsVoluntary patient
Voluntary patients, also known as 'informal patients', are people who are staying in a psychiatric hospital but are not detained under the Mental Health Act. If you are a voluntary patient, you should be able to come and go from the hospital within reason and discharge yourself if you decide to go home.
See our pages on voluntary patients for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsCommunity treatment order (CTO)
If you have been sectioned and treated in hospital under certain sections, your responsible clinician can put you on a CTO. This means that you can be discharged from the section and leave hospital, but you might have to meet certain conditions such as living in a certain place, or going somewhere for medical treatment. Sometimes, if you don't follow the conditions or you become unwell, you can be returned to hospital.
See our pages on CTOs for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsAdvance decision
An advance decision is a statement of instructions about what medical treatment you want to refuse in case you lose the capacity to make these decisions in the future. It is legally binding.
See our pages on the Mental Capacity Act for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsAdvance statement
An advance statement is a written document that sets out your preferences (apart from refusals of treatment). It is not legally binding. You can ask a professional to follow this document if you ever lose capacity to make these decisions yourself.
See our pages on the Mental Capacity Act for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsLasting power of attorney
A lasting power of attorney is a legal document that lets you appoint someone, called an attorney, to make decisions for you.
See our pages on the Mental Capacity Act for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsThis information was published in September 2022. We will revise it in 2025.
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