(1)  An involuntary patient who is not a person to whom section 68(1) applies may be admitted to an SMHU if the admission is authorised by the Chief Psychiatrist.

Note

An involuntary patient who is a person to whom section 68(1) applies may be admitted to an SMHU under section 68 .

(2)  However, such authorisation may be given only if –

(a) the patient is being detained in an approved facility; or

(b) the patient –

(i) is not a prisoner or youth detainee; or

(ii) is to cease to be a prisoner, or youth detainee, within 60 minutes of the authorisation being given; and

(c) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

(d) the Chief Psychiatrist is satisfied that –

(i) the patient is, by reason of mental illness, a danger to himself or herself or to others; and

(ii) that danger is or has become so serious as to make –

(A) if the patient is detained at an approved facility other than an SMHU, the continued detaining of the patient at the approved facility untenable; or

(B) if the patient is detained at an SMHU, the detaining of the patient at an approved hospital untenable; and

(iii) in the circumstances, an SMHU is the only appropriate place where the patient can be safely detained; and

(iv) the particular SMHU has the resources to give the person appropriate treatment and care; and

(e) if the patient is a child, the Chief Psychiatrist is further satisfied that –

(i) the patient can be detained separately from adults; and

(ii) the probable benefits of accommodating the patient in an SMHU outweigh the probable risks.

(3)  A patient admitted to an SMHU under this section may still be treated under the authority of a subsisting treatment order and the treatment order has effect as if it provided for the patient to be detained in the SMHU.