Background
When an adult patient in the CUH ED is identified as needing transfer involuntarily to a Psychiatric Unit (‘Approved Centre’) for psychiatric treatment, the following procedure should be followed:
Print version- The patient should have completed their necessary medical care
- Appropriate legal documentation needs to be completed by ED staff as follows:
Application is completed by either:
- Spouse or Relative (Form 1) or Garda (Form 3) or Senior Nurse (Form 4)
- Note: Form 2 (ie Authorised Officer) should not be used by ED staff here
- Recommendation is completed by:
- EM Registered Medical Doctor (Form 5)
- This should not be an Intern; Ideally a Registrar
Special care should be taken in the completion of these Forms as they are legal documents that will be scrutinized.
Out of hours these forms will usually be the role of the Senior Nurse/Night Superintendant (Form 4) and the Emergency Department duty SpR (Form 5).
- These 2 forms (ie Application and Recommendation) should accompany the patient to the Approved Centre (ie Psychiatric Unit) where the patient is being transferred
- The Transfer Procedure should otherwise follow the Current Policy & Procedure on the transfer of patients from the Emergency Department, Cork University Hospital to a mental health unit for assessment/admission
More information see:
- Mental Health Act Helpline: Tel: 1890277477
- www.mhcirl.ie for copies of relevant forms/more information
- Specialling instructions CUH