Explanatory note

This Order revokes and replaces the Mental Health (Nurses) Order 1998. It prescribes the classes of nurse empowered under section 5(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983 (“the 1983 Act”) to detain, for up to six hours, a patient who is receiving treatment for mental disorder as a hospital in-patient. The Order reflects a change to the registration of nurses within the register maintained under article 5 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001, which now provides for nurses to be registered by reference to an entry indicating their relevant field of practice and provides that for the purposes of section 5(4) such entries listed under either Sub-Parts 1 or 2 of the register must relate either to mental health or learning disabilities nursing.

A regulatory impact assessment has not been prepared.