Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:41:39.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

High rate of Section 4 admissions: clinical implications and possible explanation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Basant K. Puri
Affiliation:
Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge
Donald F. Bermingham
Affiliation:
Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon, and Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

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.

The Mental Health Commissioners recommend that whenever possible two doctors should be involved in the decision to admit a patient to hospital under the Mental Health Act (1983). That is, Sections 2 and 3 of the Act should always be used in preference to Section 4, where only one doctor is required. It further recommends that the use of Section 4 should be confined to emergencies when it is only possible to secure the attendance of one doctor.

Type
Articles
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 © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990

References

Fahy, T. A., Bermingham, D. & Dunn, J. (1987) Police admissions to psychiatric hospitals: a challenge to community psychiatry? Medicine, Science and the Law, 4, 263268.Google Scholar
Webster, L., Dean, C. & Kessel, N. (1987) Effects of the 1983 Mental Health Act on the management of psychiatric patients. British Medical Journal, 295, 15291532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.