News
Without Notice Visits by the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist
Download page as PDFThe Office of the Chief Psychiatrist will be undertaking more regular without notice visits to services as one part of the development of a more efficient, effective and varied visiting and review process.
Section 521 of the Mental Health Act 2014 (the Act) gives the Chief Psychiatrist or staff of the Chief Psychiatrist statutory power to visit, without notice, an authorised hospital at any time, and other designated mental health services where a concern has arisen.
Without notice visits may relate to recent events at a service, and these may have been discussed with service leads prior to the visit. On other occasions, there will not be a recent trigger for the visit. Significantly, these visits remain an important point of engagement for the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist with clinical and other staff across the sector.