You are here: visiting people > designated medical practitioners
Visiting people
Designated medical practitioners
Safeguarding treatment - the role of the designated medical practitioner
If an individual is detained on a short-term certificate or compulsory treatment order, under the Mental Health Act, he or she can be given medical treatment without consent for the first two months of a detention. Some treatments have special safeguards, these include
- artificial feeding
- electro-convulsive therapy
- some other treatments that act directly on the brain
- drug treatment to reduce sex drive
These treatments - and any drugs or treatments for a mental disorder that the individual does not consent to after two months - require extra safeguards to be put in place. For safeguarded treatments, the patient's Responsible Medical Officer (RMO) must get an independent opinion from a designated medical practitioner (DMP). The RMO will contact the Commission to arrange for a Designated Medical Practitioner (DMP) to visit the patient. The DMP will visit and then decide whether or not the treatment should go ahead. The DMP is not employed by the Commission but will have received specialist training from us. Our DMP training focuses on best practice in relation to the principles of mental health law.
Useful information
- We have produced a leaflet for service users and carers on the role of DMPs can be downloaded from our information leaflets section.
- We have also produced good practice guidance on Consent to treatment (.pdf) for people working with mental health and incapacity law.
- The Scottish Government have published a Mental Health Act Topic Guide on consent to treatment for service users and carers.
- The General Medical Council has produced guidance on consent for doctors, patients and carers called Doctors and patients making decisions together (.pdf).
- A list of current DMPs (.doc) can be downloaded from here.
Designated medical practitioner visits