Conditional discharge and detention in a Hospital 

18 January 2011

The Upper Tribunal has just delivered its latest judgment in the RB saga. RB is a patient detained under s. 37 of the Mental Health Act, with a restriction under s. 41. Those treating him agreed with RB and his legal advisers that he could and should be conditionally discharged to a care home with significant restrictions on his liberty. The Secretary of State for Justice objected on the ground that the conditions amounted to a deprivation of RB's liberty and was therefore not a lawful discharge. The Upper Tribunal has now dismissed the SSJ's appeal from the First-tier Tribunal. The law now is that restricted patients may be discharged from a secure hospital with conditions that amount to a deprivation of liberty provided the place they are discharged to is not a Hospital. The Tribunal also made a clear statement on precedent. The Upper Tribunal, when exercising jurisdiction formerly exercised by the High Court need not consider itself formally bound by those High court decisions. Simon Burrows has acted for RB throughout.

See below PDF judgment in Secretary of State for Justice v. RB [2010] UKUT 454 (ACC)