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Overview

If you want to get treatment for your mental health problem as an informal patient, you or someone caring for you might have questions about your rights.

Quick facts

• You're an informal patient (sometimes called a 'voluntary patient') if you've agreed to have in-patient treatment in a psychiatric hospital.
• Being an informal patient is different to being sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Being sectioned is where you're kept in hospital even if you don't want to go and receive treatment. See our information on sectioning to find out more.
• As an informal patient, you have the right to get treatment for your physical health problems, as well as your mental health problems. You also have the right to refuse any treatment you don't want. You can leave the hospital when you want, but you are still expected to take part in your treatment plan.
• Some hospitals will have rules about what you can and can't do on the ward. But if the rules are too restrictive and unnecessary, it could breach the Human Rights Act.
• You would only be sectioned if the care team is worried about the risks to yourself or others if you leave the ward.
• If you need support from different people, you should be given community care under the Care Programme Approach in England or the Care and Treatment Planning in Wales.

This information was published in October 2022.

This page is currently under review. All content was accurate when published. 

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