Section 17F – Revocation of community treatment order for treatment under Section 3 of the Mental Health Act

1. Patient’s name

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. Name of the person in charge of your care (your “responsible clinician”)

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

3. Name of hospital and ward

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

4. Date community treatment order was revoked

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

You are being kept in this hospital because the person in charge of your care (your responsible clinician) has revoked (ended) your community treatment order so that you can be kept in hospital to be given the treatment and care that you need.

You can be kept here under section 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983 because this was the section under which you were kept in hospital before you went onto a community treatment order.

Your responsible clinician and an approved mental health professional think that you have a mental disorder and you need to stay in hospital for treatment. An approved mental health professional is someone who has been specially trained to help decide whether people need to be kept in hospital.

You can be kept here for up to six months at first from when your community treatment order was revoked so that you can be given the treatment you need.

You must not leave during this time unless your responsible clinician tells you that you may. If you try to leave the staff can stop you, and if you do leave you can be brought back.

Your responsible clinician will tell you when they think you are well enough to leave hospital. If your responsible clinician thinks that you need to stay in hospital for longer than six months, they can renew how long you can be kept in hospital for up to another six months, and then for up to a year at a time. Your responsible clinician will talk to you about this towards the end of each period.

Your responsible clinician and other hospital staff will talk to you about any treatment that you need for your mental disorder. In most cases, you will have to accept their advice.

If it is more than one month since you went onto a community treatment order, special rules apply to medicine and drug treatment for your mental disorder.

If it is more than three months since you first had medicine or drug treatment while you were in hospital or on a community treatment order, you cannot be given any medicine or drug if you say you do not want it, or are too ill to say whether you want it, unless an independent doctor agrees or it is an emergency.

An independent doctor may already have talked to you and said that the treatment is right for you before you were recalled to hospital. If so, the staff can give you that treatment. Otherwise, an independent doctor will be asked to visit you and talk to staff at the hospital who know you. The doctor will talk to you and decide if the treatment is right for you.

This independent doctor is called a SOAD (Second Opinion Appointed Doctor) and is appointed by an independent Commission which monitors how the Mental Health Act is used.

There are different rules for some special treatments, like electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). If the staff think you need one of these special treatments, the rules will be explained to you and you will be given another leaflet.

You may be able to go back onto a community treatment order when you are well enough, but your responsible clinician will want to talk to you about why you had to be recalled to hospital and whether a community treatment order can meet your needs for treatment and care. You should talk to your responsible clinician if you feel you are ready to try a community treatment order again.

Yes. You can ask the Hospital Managers to let you leave hospital. You can do this at any time. The Hospital Managers are a special committee of people set up within the hospital to decide whether people should still be kept in hospital. They may want to talk to you before deciding whether to let you leave.

You can write to the Hospital Managers at your local Mental Health Act Office at either:

Mental Health Act Office
St Nicholas Hospital
Jubilee Road
Gosforth
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE3 3XT
or

Mental Health Act Office
Carleton Clinic
Cumwhinton Drive
Carlisle
Cumbria
CA1 3SX

Or you can ask a member of staff to help you contact the Hospital Managers.

Your nearest relative can also write to the Hospital Managers to say that they want you to be allowed to leave hospital. This leaflet explains further down who your nearest relative is. If your nearest relative does this, the Hospital Managers must let you leave within 72 hours unless your responsible clinician tells them you might be a danger to yourself or other people if you are allowed to leave. If this happens, it will be another six months before your nearest relative will be able to tell the Hospital Managers again that they want you to leave, if you are still being kept in hospital then.

You can also ask a Tribunal to say you should no longer be kept in hospital.

The Tribunal is an independent panel which can decide whether you should be allowed to leave the hospital. It will hold a meeting with you and with staff from the hospital who know you. This meeting is called a “hearing”. You can ask someone else to come to the hearing to help you, if you want. Before the hearing, the members of the Tribunal will read reports from the hospital about you and your care. One of the members of the Tribunal will also come to talk to you.

The Hospital Managers will automatically ask the Tribunal to look at your case because your community treatment order has been revoked.

You can apply yourself to the Tribunal once at any time in the first six months you are kept in hospital after your community treatment order was revoked. You may then apply once at any time during the second six months, and then once during every year that you are kept in hospital after that.
If your nearest relative told the Hospital Managers that they wanted you to be allowed to leave hospital, but your responsible clinician said you were not allowed to leave, your nearest relative can also apply to the Tribunal. Your nearest relative must do this within 28 days of being told that your responsible clinician did not think you should be allowed to leave hospital staff.

If you want to apply to the Tribunal you can write to:
The Tribunals Service
PO BOX 8793
5th Floor
Leicester, LE1 8BN

Telephone: 0300 303 5857

You can ask a solicitor to write to the Tribunal for you and help you at the hearing. The hospital and the Law Society have a list of solicitors who specialise in this. You will not have to pay for help from a solicitor with this. It is free of charge under the Legal Aid scheme.

You are entitled to help from an independent mental health advocate if you want it. These advocates are independent of people involved in your care. They can help you get information about your care and treatment, why you are being kept in hospital, what it means and what your rights are. They can come to see you and help you understand what you are told by people involved in your care and treatment. If you want, they can help you talk to these people or they can talk to them for you. They can also help you with the Tribunal.

You can contact the independent mental health advocacy service yourself. Please ask a member of staff for the telephone number. There should be a telephone where you can talk to them in private. You can ask a member of staff where this is.

If you do not want to contact the advocacy service yourself, you can ask a member of staff to contact the advocacy service for you. You can also ask your nearest relative to contact the advocacy service for you.

A copy of this leaflet will be given to the person the Mental Health Act says is your nearest relative.

There is a list of people in the Mental Health Act who are treated as your relatives. Normally, the person who comes highest in that list is your nearest relative. The hospital staff can give you a leaflet which explains this and what rights your nearest relative has in connection with your care and treatment.

In your case, we have been told that your nearest relative is:

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

If you do not want this person to receive a copy of the leaflet, please tell your nurse or another member of staff.

If you do not think this person is suitable to be your nearest relative, you can apply to the County Court for someone else to be treated as your nearest relative instead. The hospital staff can give you a leaflet that explains this.

All letters sent to you while you are in hospital will be given to you. You can send letters to anyone except someone who has said they do not want to get letters from you. Letters to these people can be stopped by the hospital staff.

There is a Code of Practice that gives advice to the staff in the hospital about the Mental Health Act and treating people for mental disorder. The staff have to consider what the Code says when they take decisions about your care. You can ask to see a copy of the Code, if you want.

You can talk to a staff member or use the contacts listed below. See other ways to give feedback

Your Voice
You can use this email to tell us what you think about your care. This can be good or bad. You can also ask us to tell you what happens after you send feedback.

Email: [email protected]

Comments and complaints
If something went wrong, please tell us. This will help us improve services.

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 0191 245 6672
Write to: Complaints Department, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, St Nicholas Hospital, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 3XT.

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
PALS offer a free, confidential service. They can help if you are worried about your care. They support patients, families and carers.

PALS North of Tyne
(services in Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland and North Cumbria)
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 0800 032 0202

PALS South of Tyne
(services in Sunderland, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Lotus Ward, Middlesbrough)
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 0800 328 4397

If there is anything you do not understand about your care and treatment, a member of staff will try to help you. Please ask a member of staff to explain if there is anything in this leaflet you do not understand or if you have other questions that this leaflet has not answered. Please ask if you would like another copy of this leaflet for someone else.

You can get more information about this leaflet from the Patient Information Centre. This includes how the leaflet was made. We can provide this leaflet in other formats. These include Braille, audio, large print, Easy Read, British Sign Language, and other languages.

We welcome your feedback about this leaflet. You can email [email protected]

Published by the Patient Information Centre
2026 Copyright: Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust

Ref: PIC/214/0526 May 2026 V12
Review date 2027

Website: www.cntw.nhs.uk – Telephone: 0191 246 6800

Find us on social media. Search for CNTW.