---

Mental Health Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 33: 33: After Clause 20, insert the following new Clause— ““Effect of application for admission In section 6(1) of the 1983 Act— (a) for all references to ““applicant”” substitute ““NHS trust responsible for hospital provision””; and (b) for ““convey him to the hospital”” substitute ““convey him to the hospital identified by the trust as being able to receive him””.”” The noble Earl said: This amendment brings us back to the process involved in admitting a mental health patient to hospital and focuses on a real difficulty that is often encountered. Under the present Act, the approved social worker is personally responsible for the custody and transporting ofthe patient, which of course carries with it a responsibility for the patient’s safety and the safety of anyone else with whom they come into contact until they are finally accepted on to a hospital ward. However, quite often there are difficulties in getting prompt or adequate assistance from police and ambulance staff. Not uncommonly, beds are scarce, with offers of beds being withdrawn when the patient is brought to the hospital. In those sorts of situation, the ASW is extremely exposed, both personally and legally. The converse of this is that, because trusts do not become legally responsible for the patient until he or she is actually received on to a ward, there is little pressure or incentive on management to resolve the difficulties. The amendment would transfer legal responsibility from the approved mental health professional to the trust from the moment the application is signed. It would also provide for the application to be made to the trust rather than to a named hospital, which would prevent the application from being invalidated if it was necessary to admit the patient to a hospital other than the one originally planned. It is perhaps worth adding that this need not affect the way in which an admission is carried out. The trust could appoint the approved mental health professional as its agent and then authorise him or her to convey under Section 6(1), but the key point is that the trust would remain ultimately responsible in law. I beg to move.