The High Court (Sir Ross Cranston) has decided that there should be determined a successor case to Devon Partnership NHS Trust v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2021] EWHC 101 (Admin).
In the Devon case, a Divisional Court (Sharp P, Chamberlain J) decided that examinations required to be undertaken by medical practitioners before recommending detention in hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983 had to be undertaken face-to-face, and could not therefore be done remotely.
In the successor case, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (CO/4351/2022), the issue is whether the conclusion in Devon applies to similarly worded but different provisions in the Act concerning hospital detention renewals, renewals of guardianship, and renewals of Community Treatment Orders.
Tom Cross acts for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. The case is expected to be heard in the October term.
