§ Mr. Pattieasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many
1975 1976 1977 (a) Cases referred to the board 11 12 23 (b) Restricted patients detained in special hospitals on 30th June 1,293 1,323 1,290 (c) (a) as a percentage of (b) 0.9 0.9 1.8
§ Mr. Pattieasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many restricted patients under sections 60/65 or 72/74 of the Mental Health Act 1959 who appeared before mental health review tribunals in 1975, 1976 and 1977 waited (a) up to one month,(b) one to three months, (c) four to six months, (d) seven to 12 months, (e) one to two years or (f) over two years for a decision from him following their tribunal hearing.
§ Dr. SummerskillI regret that the information requested could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Pattieasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many patients detained under sections 60/65 or 72/74 of the Mental Health Act 1959 were recommended for discharge by a mental health review tribunal in 1975, 1976 and 1977; and how many of these recommendations he accepted.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe table below gives the information about cases referred by my right hon. Friend to mental health review tribunals in respect of all patients who are subject to the restrictions set out in section 65 of the Mental Health Act 1959. The figures for the number of discharge recommendations which my right hon. Friend accepted are given for176W patients in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were designated as requiring special consideration before the Aarvold Board; and what percentage this constituted of all restricted patients at the time.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe following table compares, for 1975 to 1977, the number of cases referred to the Advisory Board on Restricted Patients and the mid-year population of restricted patients in the special hospitals. Only patients in such hospitals were considered for reference to the board and decisions on whether or not they required special care in assessment were not necessarily taken until a proposal for transfer or discharge had been made.
the year in which he reached a decision irrespective of the date on which the Tribunal made its recommendation.
Number of cases in which Tribunal recommended discharge Number of tribunal's discharge recommendations which were accepted 1975 37 25 1976 29 22 1977 27 15
§ Mr. Pattieasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many patients detained under sections 60/65 or 72/74 of the Mental Health Act 1959 were not recommended for discharge by a mental health review tribunal in 1975, 1976 and 1977; and if he accepted all these recommendations.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe table below gives the information about cases referred by my right hon. Friend to mental health review tribunals in respect of all patients who are subject to the restrictions set out in section 65 of the Mental Health Act 1959. My right hon. Friend accepted all these recommendations.
177W
No. of cases in which tribunal did not recommend discharge 1975 216 1976 212 1977 237
§ Mr. Pattieasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many patients detained under sections 60/65 or 72/74 of the Mental Health Act 1959 appeared before mental health review tribunals in 1975, 1976 and 1977.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe table below gives the number of cases of patients subject to the restrictions set out in section 65 of the Mental Health Act 1959 which were referred by my right hon. Friend to mental health review tribunals in these years. I do not know in how many of these cases the patient appeared in person before the tribunal.
No. of cases referred to tribunals 1975 344 1976 346 1977 362
§ Mr. Pattieasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many of the recommendations for discharge, transfer or for no discharge made by the Aarvold Board in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were accepted by him;
(2) how many recommendations of the Aarvold Board in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were (a) for absolute or conditional discharge, (b) for transfer or (c) for no discharge.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe recommendations of the Advisory Board on Restricted Patients were as follows:
1975 1976 1977 Discharge (conditional or absolute) 1 4 10 Transfer 6 3 5 No discharge or transfer 4 4 6 In addition, there was one case in 1976 and two cases in 1977 where the advice of the board drew attention to areas requiring further investigation before a final view could be reached.
My right hon. Friend accepted the board's advice in all cases except for:
- (a) one transfer recommendation in 1976;
- (b) a transfer recommendation in 1975, and a discharge recommendation in each of the yeas 1976 and 1977. In each of these three cases the patient's relapse led to the withdrawal of the original recommendation before it could be put into effect.
§ Mr. Pattieasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what 178W Occasions he refers patients to the Aarvold Board for its advice.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesI seek the independent expert advice of the Advisory Board on Restricted Patients in cases of special difficulty where it appears that its advice would be particularly likely to assist me in deciding whether to accept a recommendation that the patient be discharged or transferred.