Section 134: Correspondence of patients., Mental Health Act 1983

A postal packet addressed to any person by a patient detained in a hospital under this Act and delivered by the patient for dispatch may be withheld from the postal operator concerned—

if that person has requested that communications addressed to him by the patient should be withheld; or

subject to subsection (3) below, if the hospital is one at which high security psychiatric services are provided and the managers of the hospital consider that the postal packet is likely—

to cause distress to the person to whom it is addressed or to any other person (not being a person on the staff of the hospital); or

to cause danger to any person;

and any request for the purposes of paragraph (a) above shall be made by a notice in writing given to the managers of the hospital, or the approved clinician with overall responsibility for the patient's case ... .

Subject to subsection (3) below, a postal packet addressed to a patient detained under this Act in a hospital at which high security psychiatric services are provided may be withheld from the patient if, in the opinion of the managers of the hospital, it is necessary to do so in the interests of the safety of the patient or for the protection of other persons.

Subsections (1)(b) and (2) above do not apply to any postal packet addressed by a patient to, or sent to a patient by or on behalf of—

any Minister of the Crown or the Scottish Ministers or Member of either House of Parliament or member of the Scottish Parliament or of the Northern Ireland Assembly;

any of the Welsh Ministers, the Counsel General to the Welsh Assembly Government or a member of the National Assembly for Wales;

any judge or officer of the Court of Protection, any of the Court of Protection Visitors or any person asked by that Court for a report under section 49 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 concerning the patient;

the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales the Health Service Commissioner for England, . . . or a Local Commissioner within the meaning of Part III of the Local Government Act 1974;

the Care Quality Commission;

the Citizen Voice Body for Health and Social Care, Wales;

the First-tier Tribunal or the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales;

NHS England , an integrated care board, a ... Local Health Board or Special Health Authority ..., a local social services authority ... ... , a local probation board established under section 4 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000) or a provider of probation services;

a provider of a patient advocacy and liaison service for the assistance of patients at the hospital and their families and carers;

a provider of independent advocacy services for the patient;

the managers of the hospital in which the patient is detained;

any legally qualified person instructed by the patient to act as his legal adviser; or

the European Commission of Human Rights or the European Court of Human Rights.

In subsection (3) above—

"patient advocacy and liaison service" means a service of a description prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State, and

The managers of a hospital may inspect and open any postal packet for the purposes of determining—

whether it is one to which subsection (1) or (2) applies, and

in the case of a postal packet to which subsection (1) or (2) above applies, whether or not it should be withheld under that subsection;

and the power to withhold a postal packet under either of those subsections includes power to withhold anything contained in it.

Where a postal packet or anything contained in it is withheld under subsection (1) or (2) above the managers of the hospital shall record that fact in writing.

Where a postal packet or anything contained in it is withheld under subsection (1)(b) or (2) above the managers of the hospital shall within seven days give notice of that fact to the patient and, in the case of a packet withheld under subsection (2) above, to the person (if known) by whom the postal packet was sent; and any such notice shall be given in writing and shall contain a statement of the effect of section 134A(1) to (4).

The functions of the managers of a hospital under this section shall be discharged on their behalf by a person on the staff of the hospital appointed by them for that purpose and different persons may be appointed to discharge different functions.

The Secretary of State may make regulations with respect to the exercise of the powers conferred by this section.

In this section and section 134A "hospital" has the same meaning as in Part II of this Act and "postal operator" and, "postal packet" have the same meaning as in Part 3 of the Postal Services Act 2011 (see section 27)

Section 134: Correspondence of patients.

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