The Mental Health (Nurses, Guardianship, Consent to Treatment and Prescribed Forms) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998

Made: 8th December 1998

Coming into operation: 25th January 1999

The Department of Health and Social Services, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Article 7(3) and Article 135(1) of the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986[^f00001], and of all powers enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) These regulations may be cited as the Mental Health (Nurses, Guardianship, Consent to Treatment and Prescribed Forms) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 and shall come into operation on 25th January 1999.

• (2) In these regulations,

• “the principal regulations” means the Mental Health (Nurses, Guardianship, Consent to treatment and Prescribed Forms) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1986[^f00002]

Amendment of regulation 3 of the principle regulations

2

For the existing regulation 3 there shall be substituted:

For the purposes of Article 7(3) (power to detain patient in hospital for maximum of 6 hours), a nurse of the prescribed class shall be a nurse registered in Part 3 (first level nurses trained in the nursing of persons suffering from mental illness), Part 4 (second level nurses trained in the nursing of persons suffering from mental illness (England and Wales)), Part 5 (first level nurses trained in the nursing of persons suffering from learning disabilities), Part 6 (second level nurses trained in the nursing of persons suffering from learning disabilities (England and Wales)), Part 7 (second level nurses (Scotland and Northern Ireland)) who is assessed as competent in the nursing of persons suffering from mental illness or learning disabilities, Part 13 (nurses qualified following a course of preparation in mental health nursing) or Part 14 (nurses qualified following a course of preparation in learning disabilities nursing) of the register prepared and maintained under section 7 of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1997[^f00003] (the professional register).

Amendment of Schedule to the principal regulations

3

In the Schedule to the principal regulations, for Form 6 there shall be substituted Form 6 in the Schedule.

Schedule

FORM 6 — MENTAL HEALTH (NORTHERN IRELAND) ORDER 1986

Article 7 (3)

Signed

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Health and Social Services on

P. A. Conliffe — Assistant Secretary — 8th December 1998.

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These regulations amend the Mental Health (Nurses, Guardianship, Consent to Treatment and Prescribed Forms) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1986. They reflect a change to the name by which “mental handicap nursing” is known, to “learning disabilities nursing”, and a consequent change to the description of certain nurses in the register of qualified nurses, midwives and health visitors, under the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 1998. They also add three further categories of nurse to the prescribed class for the purposes of Article 7(3) of the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, as nurses on the basis of whose written record in prescribed Form 6, a patient who is receiving treatment for a mental disorder as an in-patient in hospital may be detained for up to 6 hours.

These regulations also substitute a new Form 6 prescribed in the Schedule to the 1986 regulations. This new form is required because of the change of name and the addition of the three further categories of nurse.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: S.I. 1986/595 N.I. 4)

[^f00002]: S.R. 1986 No. 174, the relevant amending rules are S.R. 1994 No. 65 and S.R. 1994 No. 349

[^f00003]: 1997 c. 24; for the parts of the register seeS.I. 1983/667, the relevant amending rules are S.I. 1989/1445 and S.I. 1998/2623