Nigel Turner's HyperGUIDE to the Mental Health Act

Sections 47/48/49: Transfer from Prison to Hospital

People Serving Prison Sentences [Section 47]

Summary and Conditions

The Home Office, using powers given to the Secretary of State, can make a Transfer Direction, to transfer a prisoner to hospital for treatment, where:

the prisoner has a least one of the four types of mental disorder, on the basis of reports from two doctors (at least one of whom must be approved under Section 12) and
the mental disorder is of a nature or degree which makes it appropriate for the person to be detained in hospital for medical treatment and
(in the case of psychopathic disorder or mental impairment only) that such treatment is likely to alleviate or prevent a deterioration in the prisoner's condition and
the Home Office is of the opinion that a transfer is expedient in the circumstances, having regard to the public interest.

Effect, Duration and Discharge

A Transfer Direction made under Section 47 alone, has the same effect as a Section 37 Hospital Order made by a Court. However, in practice, a Transfer Direction will usually be subject to a Restriction Direction under Section 49.

The Transfer Direction may come to an end:

14 days after it is made, if the transfer to hospital does not in fact take place in this period
in the same way as a Section 37 Hospital Order, if no Restriction Direction is made, and this may mean the person being detained in hospital for longer than the period of their prison sentence.

People Not Serving Prison Sentences [Section 48]

Section 47 makes provision for prisoners serving a sentence to be transferred to a hospital. Section 48 simply extends this to prisoners who have not been convicted, such as:

people remanded in custody by a magistrates' court
people suspected of being illegal immigrants.

The additional / different conditions are that:

the person has mental illness or severe mental impairment, but the other two forms of mental disorder by themselves do not qualify
that the person is in urgent need of the treatment which is to be provided.

The Transfer Direction comes to an end when the Court makes its final decision about the outcome of the case.

Restriction Directions under Section 49

A Restriction Direction prevents discharge being made under Section 23, working in the same way that a Section 41 Restriction Order restricts the discharge of someone detained under Section 37. It can be used in conjunction with a Section 47 Transfer Direction, or one made under Section 48 where the person has been remanded in custody by a Court.

In the case of people who have been sentenced and are subject to Sections 47&49, the Restriction Direction (but not necessarily the Transfer Direction) will come to an end at the earliest date upon which the person could have been released from prison if he/she had not been transferred to hospital. If the Home Office is informed, before this date (by the Responsible Medical Officer, another doctor, or the Mental Health Review Tribunal) that the person no longer needs treatment, or that there is no effective treatment to be given, the person can be:

returned to prison, or anywhere else the person might have been detained had they not been transferred to hospital
released under any arrangement which could apply if the person were returned, but without actually returning them.

Overview page. Contents page. Introduction page.

This page last revised 6 May 1996
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of information in these pages, they are not intended to be relied upon as an authoritative statement of the law. The author cannot accept liability for errors or omissions.