Rules Governing the Use of Seclusion and Mechanical Means of Bodily Restraint

The Mental Health Commission published revised Rules Governing the Use of Seclusion and Mechanical Means of Bodily Restraint pursuant to Section 69(2) of the Mental Health Act 2001 in October 2009. These revised Rules (Version 2) came into effect in January 2010.

The revised Rules replaced the previous version of the Rules which were first issued in November 2006 in order to meet the requirements of the Mental Health Act, 2001.

The Commission is committed to keeping the Rules under periodic review and to revise them as required. As a result, it has just issued an addendum to the Rules which will come into effect on 1st March 2011.

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that patients placed in seclusion are adequately observed for the duration of the period of seclusion. The effect of this change is that the monitoring requirements of Version 2 of the Rules are now similar to those which were in place in Version 1 of the Rules.

Please ensure that you read the addendum below in conjunction with the Rules Governing the Use of Seclusion and Mechanical Means of Bodily Restraint, Version 2.

See Consultation section to view the review report.