# Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, Section 315: Ill-treatment and wilful neglect of mentally disordered person

Extent: S

(1) This section applies to a person (a “relevant person”) who—
(a) is an individual employed in, or contracted to provide services in or to, a hospital;
(b) not being the Scottish Ministers, is a manager of a hospital;
(c) provides care services; or
(d) is an individual who, otherwise than—
(i) by virtue of a contract of employment or other contract with any person; or
(ii) as a volunteer for a voluntary organisation,
provides care or treatment.
(2) A relevant person who—
(a) whether under this Act or otherwise—
(i) is providing care or treatment; or
(ii) purports to provide care or treatment,
to a patient; and
(b) ill-treats, or wilfully neglects, that patient,
shall be guilty of an offence.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (2) above shall be liable—
(a) on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both;
(b) on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to a fine or to both.
(4) In subsection 1(c), “provides care services” means anything done—
(a) by a care service,
(b) by an employee of a care service, or
(c) in the course of a service provided or supplied by a care service,
whether by virtue of a contract of employment or any other contract or in circumstances as may be prescribed by regulations.
(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), “care service” means a service mentioned in section 47(1)(a), (b), (d), (f), (g), (j) or (m) of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2003/13/section/315 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/mental-health-care-and-treatment-scotland-act-2003/section-315
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.