This leaflet provides information for people who have been given a court order to have a guardian to help them under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983. It includes information such as what is guardianship, why you need a guardian, how long this lasts and your rights to appeal.
| 1. Patient’s name |
| 2. Your guardian’s name |
| 3. Address |
| 4. Telephone number |
| 5. Your responsible local social services authority |
Under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Court has made an order that you should have a guardian to help you. This is called a “guardianship order”.
Your guardian may be your local social services authority, or someone who has been approved by a social services authority. If your guardian is not a social services authority, they are called a “private guardian”.
Your guardian has legal powers to tell you:– where you must live– to attend appointments for medical treatment, work, education or training at set places and at set times– to allow a doctor, or another named person to see you.
Two doctors think that you need help to live in the community as you have a mental disorder and you need a guardian for your own welfare or to protect other people.
Guardianship lasts for up to six months at first.
Your guardianship may be renewed for a further six months, and again for a further year at a time, if your responsible clinician or your nominated medical attendant thinks this is necessary. They will talk to you about this nearer the time.
Your responsible clinician is the doctor, or other person, asked by the local social services authority to say whether you still need a guardian. If you have a private guardian, this will be done by a doctor called your “nominated medical attendant” instead.
Yes. You can appeal to the Court against the guardianship order. If you want to appeal you will have to do it quickly and it is best to ask a solicitor to help you. Ask your guardian or social worker about this and they will give you another leaflet.
If you want to stop having a guardian, you should talk to your guardian, your social worker, your responsible clinician or your nominated medical attendant.
You can also write to the social services authority to ask them to end your guardianship. Someone from the social services authority may want to talk to you before deciding whether you still need a guardian.
You and your nearest relative can also ask a Tribunal to say that you should not have a guardian any more. This leaflet explains further down who your nearest relative is.
The Tribunal is an independent panel which can decide whether you still need a guardian. It will hold a meeting with you and with staff 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 about you and your guardianship. One of the members of the Tribunal will also come to talk to you
You can apply to the Tribunal once at any time during the first six months of your guardianship. You can then apply again once during the next six months and then once in every year that you are still under guardianship.
Your nearest relative can apply to the Tribunal once at any time during the first year of your guardianship and then again once in every year that you are still under guardianship.
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. Your social services authority 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 any treatment you may be receiving], why you are under guardianship and what it means. They can help you understand what you are told by people involved in your care. 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 the person who gave you this leaflet for the telephone number.
If you do not want to contact the advocacy service yourself, you can ask the person who gave this leaflet 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. Your social services authority 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 guardian, social worker or the person who gave you this leaflet.
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. Your social services authority can give you a leaflet that explains this.
There is a Code of Practice that gives advice about the Mental Health Act to people involved in your care. They 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.
If you are unsure about your care or treatment, staff can help.
Staff or a carer can also support you to read this leaflet. They will be able to answer any questions that you have. You can ask for another copy for someone else.
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: yourvoice
Comments and complaints
If something went wrong, please tell us. This will help us improve services.
Email: complaints
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: pals
Telephone: 0800 032 0202
PALS South of Tyne
(services in Sunderland, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Lotus Ward, Middlesbrough)
Email: pals
Telephone: 0800 328 4397
If you do not feel that the hospital complaints procedure can help you, you can complain to an independent Commission.
This is called the Care Quality Commission, and it monitors how the Mental Health Act is used, to make sure it is used correctly and that patients are cared for properly while they are in hospital. The hospital staff can give you a leaflet explaining how to contact the Commission.
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 pic
Published by the Patient Information Centre
2026 Copyright: Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
Ref: PIC/209/0526 May 2026 V11
Review date 2027
Website: www.