Mental Health Act 20266
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Application to Family District Court for relevant treatment order | ||
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88. (1) Subject to subsections (11) and (16), an application for a treatment order under this section may be made by the Executive where— | ||
(a) treatment cannot be administered to an involuntarily admitted child aged 16 years or older assessed as lacking capacity under section 61 or an involuntarily admitted child aged under 16 years because— | ||
(i) his or her parents, or either of them, or guardian, having been given an opportunity to consent to or refuse the treatment concerned, fail to do so or are incapable of doing so, or | ||
(ii) his or her parents, or either of them, or guardian, after the making of reasonable enquiries, cannot be found, | ||
and | ||
(b) the relevant criteria in subsection (2) apply. | ||
(2) The relevant criteria for the purpose of subsection (1) are that there is no alternative safe and effective treatment available and— | ||
(a) the treatment is immediately necessary for the protection of life of the child or that of another person, | ||
(b) the treatment is necessary for protection from an immediate and serious threat to the health of the child, or that of another person, or | ||
(c) the child has a mental disorder, the nature and degree of which is such that— | ||
(i) he or she requires treatment immediately, | ||
(ii) the treatment required to be given to the child cannot be given to that child other than in a registered acute mental health centre, and | ||
(iii) the treatment of the child concerned would be likely to materially benefit the condition of that child. | ||
(3) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to an application under subsection (1): | ||
(a) the application shall be made— | ||
(i) at the next sitting of the Family District Court held in the Family District Court district in which the child resides or is for the time being, | ||
(ii) in circumstances of urgency where no judge of the Family District Court is available to hear the application, at the next sitting of the District Court held in the same District Court district, or | ||
(iii) in the event that the next sitting of the Family District Court or District Court is not due to be held within 3 working days, at a sitting of the Family District Court or District Court which has been specially arranged under paragraph (d), held within the said 3 working days; | ||
(b) where a judge for the Family District Court district or a judge for the District Court district in which the child resides or is for the time being is not immediately available, an order may be made by any judge of the Family District Court or the District Court; | ||
(c) the application may, if the judge is satisfied that the urgency of the matter so requires, be made ex parte; | ||
(d) the application may, if the judge is satisfied that the urgency of the matter so requires, be heard and an order made thereon elsewhere than at a sitting of the Family District Court or a public sitting of the District Court; | ||
(e) the Executive shall specify the proposed treatment to be administered to the child concerned. | ||
(4) Before making an application under subsection (1) due to a failure by a child’s parents, or either of them, or guardian to consent to or refuse the treatment concerned, the Executive shall— | ||
(a) provide adequate time, information and, as appropriate, support to assist a child’s parents, or either of them, or guardian to make a decision regarding the treatment concerned, and | ||
(b) inform the parents, or either of them, or guardian of its intention to make an application and consult with them in advance as appropriate. | ||
(5) Where an application is made under subsection (1), the Executive shall immediately notify the making of the application to— | ||
(a) the guardian ad litem appointed for the child, | ||
(b) where possible and appropriate, the child’s parents, or either of them, or guardian, | ||
(c) where the child is the subject of a voluntary care arrangement, an interim care order, an emergency care order or a supervision order, the Agency, and | ||
(d) any other person specified by the Family District Court or the District Court, as the case may be. | ||
(6) Subject to subsection (14), where the Family District Court or the District Court, as the case may be, is satisfied, having considered any reports or evidence that may be adduced before it, that the grounds in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and the relevant criteria in subsection (2) continue to apply, the Court may make an order (in this section referred to as a “relevant treatment order”) for the administration of the proposed treatment to the child concerned in a registered acute mental health centre for a period not exceeding 21 days. | ||
(7) Before making a relevant treatment order, the Family District Court or the District Court, as the case may be, may request and consider such reports or evidence as it considers necessary to be furnished to the Court, within such period as may be specified by the Court. | ||
(8) Where an application has been made under subsection (1), treatment may be administered to the child the subject of the application for a period of 72 hours from the initiation of the application or until the hearing of the application by the Family District Court or the District Court, as the case may be, whichever is sooner, where, in the opinion of the responsible consultant psychiatrist, the grounds in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and the relevant criteria in subsection (2) continue to apply. | ||
(9) Where treatment is administered under subsection (8), the Executive shall immediately notify the persons specified in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of subsection (5). | ||
(10) On the hearing of an application under subsection (1), the Family District Court or the District Court, as the case may be, pending its determination of the application, of its own motion or on the application of any person, may give such interim directions as it sees fit as to the care and treatment of the child the subject of the application, but any such direction shall cease to have effect immediately on the determination by the Court of the application before it. | ||
(11) Where, in the case of an involuntarily admitted child aged 16 years or older assessed as lacking capacity under section 61 or an involuntarily admitted child aged under 16 years— | ||
(a) the responsible consultant psychiatrist, and | ||
(b) the child’s parents or guardian or the Agency, | ||
agree that it would be detrimental to the relationship between the child and his or her parents or guardian or the Agency for that person or persons to consent to or refuse treatment, and, in the opinion of the responsible consultant psychiatrist, the relevant criteria in subsection (2) apply, an application for a relevant order may be made under this section with any necessary modifications. | ||
(12) An application may be made by the Executive to the Family District Court or the District Court, as the case may be, to renew a relevant treatment order for one further period not exceeding 21 days, commencing on the date of the expiry of the initial relevant treatment order, subject to any directions of the Court, where— | ||
(a) in the case of a child aged 16 years or older, the child continues to lack capacity to consent to or refuse treatment, and | ||
(b) the grounds in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and the relevant criteria in subsection (2) continue to apply, | ||
and subsections (3), (4), (5), (7), (8), (9) and (10) shall apply to such a renewal application with any necessary modifications. | ||
(13) The Executive shall withdraw any application under this section not yet determined by the Family District Court or the District Court, as the case may be, where any of the matters in subsection (14) occur. | ||
(14) Treatment may be administered pursuant to a relevant treatment order or any renewed relevant treatment order under this section until such time as the order expires or any of the following occurs, whichever is the sooner: | ||
(a) in the case of a child aged 16 years or older, he or she is assessed under section 61 as having capacity to consent to or refuse treatment; | ||
(b) the child’s parents, or either of them, or guardian makes a decision to consent to or refuse treatment on behalf of the child; | ||
(c) the child is discharged as an involuntarily admitted child under section 70 ; | ||
(d) the responsible consultant psychiatrist discontinues the treatment. | ||
(15) The Executive shall notify the Agency where a relevant treatment order is made under subsection (6) or renewed under subsection (12). | ||
(16) This section shall not apply to a child the subject of a care order other than where subsection (11) applies. |