The High Court ruled that an anonymised patient’s detention at St. Luke’s Hospital, Clonmel, was not in accordance with law after a Mental Health Tribunal reviewed and affirmed a renewal order outside the statutory 21-day period. The judge deferred making an order, allowing the parties to address what arrangements could be put in place.
The patient had been detained under the Mental Treatment Act, 1945, and the transitional provisions of the Mental Health Act, 2001, applied from November 2006. A consultant psychiatrist made a renewal order on 4 December 2006, before the prior detention order was due to expire at midnight on 8 December. The tribunal reviewed the case on 29 December and affirmed the renewal order.
The patient’s counsel argued that the 21-day review period ran from the date the renewal order was made, making the deadline 25 December. The hospital’s counsel submitted that the transitional rules meant the existing detention continued until 8 December and that the tribunal’s review on 29 December was within 21 days of that expiry. He also argued that any procedural flaw caused no injustice and should not lead to release.
Mr Justice Michael Peart concluded that the procedures under sections 15, 16 and 18 of the 2001 Act applied. He found that the deadline ran from 4 December, when the renewal order was made, and that the Act required review within 21 days. The tribunal’s decision on 29 December came after the order had expired. Its affirmation could not revive the expired order, so the patient was no longer detained under an extant order.
The judge said the court had jurisdiction to make an ancillary order to facilitate arrangements for a valid detention order. He noted evidence that the patient was very ill and required treatment and care in detention, but did not immediately order release or make another order. Instead, he invited submissions on an appropriate form of order and expressed hope that an agreed form would safeguard the patient’s interests.