Approved Clinicians Directions
Transitional
arrangements to enable the smooth introduction of Approved Clinicians
are set out in the "Mental Health Act 1983 Approved Clinician (General)
Directions 2008" (which incorporate, and therefore, replace the Mental
Health Act 1983 Approved Clinician Directions 2008).
The Directions (available here)
introduce the Approved Clinician (AC) role and cover how ACs are to be
approved by Strategic Health Authorities and Primary Care Trusts, for
how long, which professions they can be drawn from, and what
competencies they must demonstrate.
These directions include
transitional arrangements which allow the automatic approval of certain
registered medical practitioners as ACs when they come into force on 3
November 2008. Guidance on these transitional arrangements can be
found in the ‘Implementation of the Mental Health Act 2007 Transitional
Arrangements'.
Hospital Managers will have a responsibility to
ensure that a list of ACs is established by November 3rd and thereafter
maintained. SHAs will also need to maintain a register of ACs.
The
Directions set out the criteria for transition of medical
practitioners. Trust Boards will need to ensure that the criteria
within Directions have been applied to each of the medical
practitioners who are being transferred to Approved Clinicians when the
Act comes into force.
In order to ensure this is the case, the
Board will need to review each medical practitioner's status and
experience and decide whether the criteria are met. If the criteria are
met then each name can be placed on the Approved Clinician list. If the
criteria are not met, then arrangements need to be made for the
individual practitioner to access appropriate training. Medical
directors are likely to have a key role in this important process.