What is the Mental Health Tribunal process?

Under the Mental Health Acts 2001-2018 every adult who is involuntarily detained in an approved centre will have their detention order referred to a Mental Health Tribunal for review. We use ‘the 2001 Act’ and ‘the Tribunal’ for short in the text when outlining information. An approved centre is a mental health unit that is registered by the Mental Health Commission.

The 2001 Act sets out how this system of review operates. The Tribunal must take place within 21 days of the order to detain a person being made.

Involuntarily detained patients are people who are considered to have a mental disorder (according to the 2001 Act) and who are admitted to and detained without their consent, in an approved centre. The detention may be on an admission order or a renewal order.

Every detained patient has the right to a legal representative (with legal aid covering the costs). The MHC assigns legal representatives. A patient may ask for a different legal representative from the MHC’s panel or appoint their own private solicitor at their own cost.

The MHC arranges for an independent consultant psychiatrist to provide a report on the patient’s mental health for the Tribunal and the patient’s legal representative.

Any order to detain a patient must be sent to the MHC within 24 hours.