The Mental Health Act 1983 refers to those patients who are compulsorily detained - not those who seek voluntary admission for mental health treatment. The Act covers compulsory admission to hospital, consent to treatment, mental health review tribunals, removal of patients, and the management of property and affairs of patients. The term - sectioning - refers to the use of certain sections of the Mental Health Act to detain patients. These key sections of the Act can be accessed below. The Mental Health Act is due to be amended in 2003 and a Draft Mental Health Bill was published in 2002.

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BBC:

Mental Health - Your Rights

A summary of patients - rights under the Mental Health Act 1983 is available on the BBC website. This is a simple guide to rights in England only and includes details of Sections 2, 3, 4, 5,135 and 136.

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Dept of Health:

Mental Health Act Information

Mental health services in England are experiencing a period of unprecedented change. In the last five years, a wealth of evidence has emerged about which practices are effective and which are not. Recent policy and consultation documents, implementation guides and good practice examples are available here.

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Guide to the Mental Health Act

A comprehensive overview of the Act and all its component parts written by health professional Nigel Turner, which includes guides to the different sections of the Act and their powers to detain.

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Mental Health Act online

The Act can be read in full on the site of the Institute of Mental Health Act Practitioners. It has been reproduced under the terms of Crown Copyright Policy Guidance issued by HMSO.

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Mind:

The Mental Health Act 1983 - an outline guide

Formal patients - who make up 5% of the mental hospital population - are compulsorily detained under a section of the Mental Health Act 1983 and lose some of the rights enjoyed by informal patients. This leaflet gives an outline guide to the main provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 as they affect formal patients and their relatives.

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Section 2: Admission for assessment

This section provides the authority for someone to be detained in hospital for assessment for up to 28 days.

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Section 3: Admission for treatment

This section provides the authority for someone to be detained in hospital for treatment for up to 6 months initially, renewable for 6 months and then for a year at a time.

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Section 4: Emergency admission

This section allows emergency admission for up to 72 hours in a situation which would be a Section 2 if there were no urgency.

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Section 5: Detention of voluntarily patients

This section contains powers to prevent a voluntary patient from leaving hospital for up to 72 hours.

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Section 135: Warrant to search for and remove a patient

This section grants a warrant which will allow a police officer to enter premises (by force if necessary) in order to search for someone with mental health problems and take them to a place of safety for up to 72 hours.

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