Mental Health

As a matter of construction of s 11(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983, when an approved social worker was considering whether it was “reasonably practicable” to consult the nearest relative before making an application to admit a mental patient pursuant to the 1983 Act, the section imposed on the social worker an obligation to strike a balance between the patient’s rights under Art 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights not to be detained unless that was done by a procedure that was in accordance with the law and the patient’s rights under Art 8 to his private life. A patient’s assertion, even if founded on fact and even if reasonable, that consultation would lead to an infringement of her rights under art 8 of the Convention could not, as a matter of law, lead automatically to the conclusion that it was “not reasonably practicable” to consult the “nearest relative”. Nor was an approved social worker’s conclusion that such consultation