tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281Wed, 29 Apr 2026 08:23:57 +0000AMHP Powers and DutiesYouTube channelAMHP roleCase LawMental Capacity ActHistory of Social WorkI thought it was funny at the timetribunalspoliceSec 117Bipolar affective disorderNearest relativeMCA/MHA InterfaceMHA/MCA InterfaceSec.136community treatment orderssection 4CTO1959 ActCode of PracticeschizophreniaOut-of hours Social WorkReviewAutobiographyOrigins seriesSocial commentCapacityappealsAMHP traineeCare Act 2014Guardian PiecesSec.3anorexiaemotionally unstable personality disorderAftercareDOLSGuardianshipInquestSec.37/41dementiadissociative identity disorder"Ordinary Residence"Cheshire WestClusteringKerrie WooltortonMersey Care NHS TrustNational Assistance Act 1948Nearest relativesOut-of-hours Social WorkSec.135Sec.139diogenes syndrome"liable to be detained"ADASSAMHP reapprovalConveyance to hospitalCourt of ProtectionHuman Rights ActLunacy Act 1890Mental Health Act ReviewMunchausen SyndromePACEPayment by ResultsSec.138Sec.5(2)Sec.7Social WorkSuicideborderline personality diorderprivate hospitals"Residence""appropriate medical treatment""mental disorder""previous acquaintance""sufficient AMHPs"AMHP HubAdjustment DisordersAdvance DirectivesAmy MorbyAppealingCase StudyClinical Commissioning GroupsCoronavirus ActCoronavirus BillDe Clerambault's SyndromeECTElectroconvulsive TherapyGriefHallucinationsHuman RightsIan BradyLunatic Asylums Act 1853NHS & Community Care Act 1990Nature or degreeOthello SyndromePolice & Criminal Evidence Act 1984Policing and Crime Act 2017Public PlaceRebecca MartinRecoverySec.131Sec.137Sec.58ASec.6Section 117Section FormsStatutory formsSuicide Act 1961learning difficultiespsychopathic personality disorderwarrants"Least restrictive option""Reasonably practicable""a place to which the public have access""hospital""impracticable to consult""legal custody""personally examined""personally seen""treatment in hospital"AMHP InterviewAdvance DecisionsAmbulanceAppropriate TreatmentAsperger'sAssisted SuicideAurelia BrouwersAutistic Spectrum DisorderBIABedlam C4 seriesBrooke MartinBryan JobsonCHCCharles Bonnet SyndromeChild ProtectionCommunity Care GroupsConditional DischargeConflicts of InterestContinuing HealthcareCygnet HospitalDamien TinsleyDelusional DisorderDisplacing the Nearest RelativeDolphinsDraft Mental Health Bill 2022ESTAEast EndersElection Manifestos 2019Election Manifestos 2024Elysium HealthcareEnvironmental Protection Act 1990Equality Act 2010Foetal Alcohol Spectrum DisorderGPGlossaryHSCICHalloweenHoardingHousing PolicyIMHAInformal AdmissionInquiriesInterim ReportIsle of Man Mental Health Act 1998Janey AntoniouJesus ChristLewy Body DementiaLiudas PoderisMHA formsMeaning of abbreviationsMental Health BillMental Health CrisisMental Treatment Act 1930Mental Treatment Act 1933NSFTNorfolk & Suffolk Mental Health Foundation TrustOCDOperation StovewoodPeggy CopemanPresumptive Self-congratulationPriory GroupPriory HealthcareProfessional DisagreementsReasons to be an AMHPRecovery CollegeRectifiable & non rectifiable errorsReforming the MHA White PaperRelaxation ExerciseRestraintRestriction of LibertyRichard KingSec.11Sec.116Sec.117Sec.126Sec.127Sec.128Sec.129Sec.13Sec.13(2)Sec.13(4)Sec.135(2)Sec.140Sec.141Sec.145Sec.18Sec.2Sec.25Sec.26Sec.35Sec.37Sec.5Sec.5(4)Section 135(1)Service usersSocial Circumstances ReportSootySt Andrews HealthcareSt John’s HouseStacey SlaterSupreme CourtTanya PatersonTeenage girlsTheresa MayTimescalesTrainingTransporting to hospitalbereavementborderline personality disordercatatonic schizophreniafaxed documentsharry potterindependent hospitalsmental healthmorbid jealousypara14.37photocopiess.13(4)s.135(1)s.135(2)s.136s.7section 136section 35section 7statisticsvexatious litigantyoung person“detained patient”“detention”“liable to be detained”http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)Blogger349125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-8616877853552073230Sun, 30 Jun 2024 08:48:00 +00002024-06-30T09:48:48.731+01:00Election Manifestos 2024 So here we are with another General Election. And not before time. Since the Conservatives, who had been promising a revised Mental Health Act since the last General Election, finally ditched the published Mental Health Bill before it could be passed into law, it looks like a good time to see what the major national parties have to say about mental health in their manifestos. Surprise, http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/06/whats-in-major-parties-manifestos-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-6734792953274669674Thu, 30 May 2024 07:12:00 +00002024-05-30T08:12:09.968+01:00PACESec.35 Back in the 1980’s and 90’s, under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), social workers were often called upon by the police to fulfil the role of appropriate adult when interviewing children or vulnerable adults. Requests to attend interviews with adults with mental disorders or learning difficulties were usually for the most serious offences. So, one day I had a call from http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/05/an-interview-with-attempted-murderer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-2454219600079688538Wed, 15 May 2024 08:04:00 +00002024-05-15T09:04:33.667+01:00PACEpsychopathic personality disorderSec.37/41 Back in the 1980’s and 90’s, under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), social workers were often called upon by the police to attend interviews of children and vulnerable adults if a parent or other suitable person was not available. When I worked out-of-hours it was common to spend many hours at night sitting with a child or young person while they were interviewed for a http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/05/an-interview-with-murderer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-4469273747485857919Mon, 29 Apr 2024 07:34:00 +00002024-04-29T08:34:09.974+01:00I thought it was funny at the time I’ve been reading a lot recently about how artificial intelligence is going to change the world, for better or worse. But could it make the role of the AMHP obsolete? So, I asked Copilot, my phone’s AI companion, to write a comedy stand up routine as if performed by the Masked AMHP. This is word for word what it gave me.I'm really, very, very sorry. At least it's not very long.1 The Great http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/04/i-asked-ai-to-write-comedy-stand-up.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-8903092836982059656Mon, 22 Apr 2024 09:19:00 +00002024-04-22T10:19:10.757+01:00Hallucinations I’ve recently read Oliver Sacks’ excellent book Hallucinations. It contains a wide range of accounts of different medical conditions that can produce hallucinations or hallucinatory experiences. As Sacks says: “In the popular imagination hallucinatory voices are almost synonymous with schizophrenia – a great misconception, for most people who do hear voices are not schizophrenic.” In fact,http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/04/hallucinations-mental-health-act.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-4507278744675587249Mon, 08 Apr 2024 07:55:00 +00002024-04-08T08:55:46.969+01:00diogenes syndrome Harry is a man in his late 80’s. He is divorced and lives alone in his own home. He has a number of physical health problems associated with old age and is provided with a package of home care by the Older People’s Social Services Team. He likes cats and encourages strays to enter his home, feeding these visitors and encouraging them to take up residence in his living room, which is also http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/04/is-diogenes-syndrome-mental-disorder.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-3753968963957922814Mon, 01 Apr 2024 07:40:00 +00002024-04-01T08:40:07.183+01:00I thought it was funny at the time (Here's the text, but it's worth watching the video for pictures of puffins)The Mental Health Act has been evolving over many decades. Indeed, the Victorian Lunacy Acts in the 1800’s contained recognisable germs of the current MHA. The Mental Treatment Act 1930 first introduced the idea of treatment for people with mental disorder, while the 1959 Act introduced the concept of the Mental http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-weirdest-mental-health-law-youve.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-1071977051878137504Wed, 20 Mar 2024 16:17:00 +00002024-03-20T16:17:51.223+00:00tribunalsvexatious litigant Norman was a man in his early 50’s. He came from a fairly wealthy middle class family, was educated in a public school, obtained a degree in Chemistry and had a high profile job in a pharmaceutical company for some years before setting up his own consultancy company. He married and had one son. The couple divorced after 4 years. He was dissatisfied that custody of his son was given to hishttp://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/03/is-being-vexatious-litigant-mental.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-6177013932299342620Mon, 11 Mar 2024 08:33:00 +00002024-03-11T15:57:51.472+00:00Appealingappealstribunals So, you’ve been detained under the MHA, and you want to get out of hospital. Based on my decades of first-hand experience here a few hints and tips that might make your stay a little shorter. 1. Appeal against your detention When you are detained under a section of the MHA, it is the duty of the AMHP who detained you, and of the hospital staff, to inform you of your rights to appeal. http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/03/how-to-get-off-your-section.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-8944340042618212889Mon, 04 Mar 2024 09:20:00 +00002024-03-04T09:20:39.809+00:00catatonic schizophreniaOut-of-hours Social Work Back in the1980’s, when I used to do out of hours on call duties, Christmas Day was generally considered a good shift to have – you got double pay for the bank holiday, and no-one ever called Social Services on Christmas Day – Boxing Day, yes, New Year’s Day, yes, but never Christmas Day. Unless someone had chosen that day to go mad. It was a snowy evening, very festive, when I got a callhttp://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/03/whats-worst-day-to-be-sectioned.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-7082416804828967094Mon, 26 Feb 2024 13:48:00 +00002024-02-26T13:48:42.508+00:00 I was at the CMHT when I got a call from the Criminal Justice Liaison Nurse. He had been asked to see Stella, a 62 year old woman in the local Police Station, who was under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder.  “I’ve just seen her,” he said. “She gives long rambling answers to even the simplest questions. I asked her about her next of kin, and she said: ‘I usually I do everything http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/02/green-lycra-and-fairy-wings-arrested.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-121667645776323919Mon, 19 Feb 2024 09:40:00 +00002024-02-19T09:40:40.731+00:00Out-of hours Social Works.136section 136 During the 1980’s and ‘90’s, as well as my day job as a social worker, I also did shifts on the out of hours service. I was on duty one evening when I got a call from the police. They had detained a man under s.136 – this is when a police officer who finds someone in a public place who “appears to him to be suffering from mental disorder and to be in immediate need of care or control” can http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/02/mha-assessments-can-sometimes-get.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-1757621116229625590Mon, 12 Feb 2024 08:36:00 +00002024-02-12T08:36:02.315+00:00Lewy Body DementiaSec.3 Certain forms of dementia, such as Lewy Body Dementia, can produce the most vivid and outlandish of hallucinations in older people. One man I had to assess was troubled because “there are 3,474,263 people in my room, and they won’t go away.” Another elderly man I assessed had pulled up his fitted carpet and piled all his furniture in the corner of the room. When I asked him why he had http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-little-girl-with-rat-on-her.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-4083894026162187711Fri, 02 Feb 2024 10:13:00 +00002024-02-02T10:15:00.245+00:00Electroconvulsive Therapy was first introduced as a treatment for mental illness in 1938. Today, its main use is in severe treatment resistant depression, as well as in catatonia and the depressive phases of bipolar affective disorder.The most recent statistics for the UK indicate that over 1,800 patients received courses of ECT during the year 2021. The average number of treatments per course http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/02/ect-and-mental-health-act.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-6109163048762698578Mon, 15 Jan 2024 14:32:00 +00002024-01-15T14:35:10.339+00:00Guardianships.7section 7For a guardianship application to be made, a person has to be suffering from a mental disorder, and it is necessary for the welfare of the person, or to protect other people. A guardianship order gives the guardian three powers: to require the person to reside at a specific place, to require the person to attend for medical treatment, occupation, education or training, and to require access to http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2024/01/section-7-guardianship.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-2104407604150288191Wed, 27 Dec 2023 09:10:00 +00002023-12-27T09:10:07.279+00:00s.135(2)warrants The last post looked at s.135(1). This one is looking at s.135(2). The Code of Practice states that the purpose of a s.135(2) warrant is to provide police officers with a power of entry to private premises for the purposes of removing a patient who is liable to be taken or returned to hospital or any other place or into custody under the Act. Unlike s.135(1), almost anyone can apply to a http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/12/section-1352-warrant-to-enter-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-3967285739136129582Sun, 17 Dec 2023 16:19:00 +00002023-12-17T16:19:06.346+00:00s.135(1)Section 135(1)warrants When it comes to s.135 of the Mental Health Act, there is the law, and then there is the reality. I’ll look at the law first, then I’ll look at how it all pans out in the real world. If there are grounds to believe that someone with a mental disorder has been or is being, ill-treated, neglected or kept otherwise than under proper control, or is living alone and unable to care for http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/12/s1351-warrant-to-enter-and-remove.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-685567632756234654Sun, 10 Dec 2023 12:09:00 +00002023-12-10T12:09:04.572+00:00dissociative identity disorder One day Perdita left a message on our voicemail: "About to take a massive overdose. See me now or see me in hell."  I knew she wasn’t messing about. Grendel was in charge. I went straight out to see her, taking a female colleague with me. I know when not to go alone. When we arrived at her house, her front door was ajar. I had a horrible feeling of déjà vu. We went inside and http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/12/perdita-encounters-with-woman-with_10.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-2100647250816336119Sun, 03 Dec 2023 09:59:00 +00002023-12-03T09:59:37.880+00:00dissociative identity disorder A change of staff at the CMHT meant that I became Perdita’s care coordinator. Perhaps surprisingly, in view of my attempt to section her, she didn’t object to this. In fact, she told me that because of the way I had handled that event, she felt she could trust me. I got to know Perdita quite well. Splitting her self into several discrete personalities was her way of managing the http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/12/perdita-encounters-with-woman-with.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-3418443454322172168Sun, 26 Nov 2023 12:28:00 +00002023-11-26T12:28:38.041+00:00dissociative identity disorder Perdita had suffered horribly for most of her life. She had been abused physically, sexually and emotionally as a child, and as an adult had gone from one abusive relationship to another. Along the way she had developed a wide range of coping strategies, including cutting, overdosing, denial of food, and dependence on alcohol and drugs. She had also acquired a range of alternate http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/11/perdita-encounters-with-woman-with.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-8323941748376717082Wed, 15 Nov 2023 09:19:00 +00002023-11-15T09:19:12.031+00:00Nearest relatives.13(4) Relatives are often unaware of their right under s.13(4) MHA to request an assessment of their relative under the Mental Health Act.Those who are aware, are often under the mistaken belief that this will inevitably trigger a visit to their relative by an AMHP and two doctors.S.13(4) states:(4) It shall be the duty of a local social services authority, if so required by the nearest relative…http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/11/s134-right-of-nearest-relative-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-2608557093050594793Thu, 09 Nov 2023 09:19:00 +00002023-11-09T09:19:16.151+00:00Displacing the Nearest RelativeNearest relative The Mental Health Act 1959 first introduced the concept, role and statutory rights and duties of the Nearest Relative applying to patients subject to the Act. The 1983 Act and the 2007 Act hardly made any changes. In certain circumstances, the NR under the Mental Health Act can be displaced, and replaced with an acting NR. The Code of Practice states: “An acting nearest relative can be http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/11/displacing-nearest-relative.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-1612873369664053140Thu, 02 Nov 2023 09:07:00 +00002023-11-02T09:07:54.750+00:00Social Work One day, while I was still working in a Community Mental Health Team, one of our nurses returned to base in tears. She had been visiting one of her patients, a woman with bipolar affective disorder. She knew she was relapsing and had been trying to support her and her relatives and had been striving to avoid a hospital admission for several days. The patient had shouted at her. She hurled http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/11/how-to-survive-in-social-work.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-363013902639705006Sun, 22 Oct 2023 13:44:00 +00002023-10-22T14:44:36.082+01:00Foetal Alcohol Spectrum DisorderSocial Work This video is about an unusual dilemma I found myself in while working in a Community Mental Health Team. One day, I was asked to follow up a patient who had recently been discharged from the local psychiatric unit. Elaine was 20 years old. She had been admitted after taking an overdose. Looking at her discharge notes, I saw that she had been born with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. http://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/10/an-unusual-social-work-dilemma.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380213133018137281.post-8175765121942920806Wed, 20 Sep 2023 17:08:00 +00002023-09-20T18:08:43.157+01:00InquiriesNorfolk & Suffolk Mental Health Foundation TrustRichard KingIn 2022 the Norfolk and Suffolk Mental Health Foundation Trust failed a Care Quality Commission Inspection for the fourth time since its ill considered and disastrous reconfiguration in 2013, the only Mental Health Trust in the country to have so abjectly failed in its responsibilities to provide an efficient and effective mental health service for so long. Its failure was inevitable once it hadhttp://themaskedamhp.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-sorry-tale-of-failing-mental-health.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Masked AMHP)0