Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T02:45:25.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A survey of general hospital in-patients detained under Section 5(2) of the 1983 Mental Health Act

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Christopher Buller ,
David Storer  and
Rachel Bennett
Christopher Buller*
Affiliation:
Department of Adult Psychiatry, Airedale Hospital, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD20 6TD
Rachel Bennett
Affiliation:
Department of Liaison Psychiatry, Leeds General Infirmary
*
∗Correspondence
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Detention of general hospital in-patients under Section 5(2) is a rare occurrence. This study of the use of Section 5(2) in general hospitals uncovered a frequent neglect in following the guidelines of The Mental Health Act and The Code of Practice. Surprisingly the conversion rate of Section 5(2) to Section 2 or 3 was similar to that seen in a number of other studies conducted in the quite different setting of large psychiatric hospitals. A number of patient characteristics were identified that appeared to influence whether 5(2)s were converted to an admission Section. Each general hospital needs to develop guidelines to be followed when staff feel that a patient should be detained under Section 5(2) – an example of such a policy is included.

Type
Audit
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 20 , Issue 12 , December 1996 , pp. 733 - 735
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Cooper, S. A. (1992) Section 5(2): who acts as the consultant's nominated deputy? Psychiatric Bulletin, 16, 759–761.Google Scholar
Department of Health (1993) Mental Health Act 1983. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Department of Health (1993) Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Joyce, J. P., Morris, M. B. & Palia, S. S. (1991) Section 5(2) audit. Psychiatric Bulletin, 15, 224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, P. & Turner, R. (1994) Audit of the use of doctors' holding power under Section 5(2) of the Mental Health Act 1983. Health Trends, 26, 44–46.Google Scholar
Pourgourides, S. A., Prasher, V. P. & Oyebode, F. (1992) Use of Section 5(2) in clinical practice. Psychiatric Bulletin, 16, 14–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincenti, G. E. P. (1993) Who acts as the consultant's nominated deputy? Psychiatric Bulletin, 17, 771.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.