Explains the rights that you have if you are sectioned and detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983.
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You have the right to consult a solicitor or legal adviser about your rights before you are sectioned, but:
An independent mental health advocate (IMHA) may be available to help you express your views and support you, if that is what you want.
If you are at home and lock your door, normally it would be against the law for anyone to enter without your agreement or break in. But the health professionals who want to assess you can use the law to enter your home.
The Mental Health Act allows the AMHP to get a warrant from a magistrate so that the police can get in, and even break in if necessary. They will come with the AMHP and a medical practitioner.
They can only enter your home if they have reason to think that:
You can then be taken to a hospital or other place of safety to be assessed. Or you could potentially be assessed at home. You should not be kept for assessment for longer than 24 hours, but you may then be sectioned and kept in hospital for longer.
The Mental Health Act 1983 gives the AMHP and the other health professionals the right to take you to hospital. If you refuse to go with them, they have the right to use reasonable force to take you to hospital or they may call the police for assistance.
As long as the health professionals follow the right steps as set out in the Mental Health Act, and they fill in the section papers correctly, your sectioning will be lawful and you will have to go to hospital to be assessed and possibly treated.
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 TermsThis 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 TermsAMHPs are mental health professionals who have been approved by a local social services authority to carry out duties under the Mental Health Act. They are responsible for coordinating your assessment and admission to hospital if you are sectioned.
They may be:
This is a locally agreed place where the police may take you to be assessed. It's usually a hospital but can be your home. A police station should only be used in an emergency.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsThis means that you are vulnerable because of your mental health problem, and you need a level of care or control that you are not receiving at the time of the warrant to keep you safe and healthy.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsAn IMHA is an advocate specially trained to help you find out your rights under the Mental Health Act 1983 and help you while you are detained. They can listen to what you want and speak for you.
In Wales, voluntary patients can also have an IMHA.
See our pages on IMHAs (England) and IMHAs (Wales) for more information.
Visit our full listing of Legal TermsThis information was published in July 2020. We will revise it in 2023.
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