Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) work on behalf of local authorities to carry out a variety of functions under the Mental Health Act (MHA). One of their key responsibilities is to make applications for the detention of individuals in hospital, ensuring the MHA and its Code of Practice are followed. It is the AMHP's duty, when two medical recommendations have been made, to decide whether or not to make the application for the detention of the person who has been assessed under the MHA, also known as sectioning. This includes considering the correct legal frameworks (Mental Capacity Act, including Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards), including alternatives to admission, ensuring that the patient is involved, and identifying and involving their nearest relative . Each local authority must make sure an AMHP service is provided, and they are responsible for the approval and registration of AMHPs. Most AMHPs are social workers, but AMHPs can also come from a range of professions, for example psychology or nursing. There is no national database that tells us how many AMHPs there are in England or that captures how many social workers are also authorised as an AMHP. Typically, individuals will be authorised by the local authority, but will work across a variety of teams in healthcare providers, including community mental health teams, and crisis resolution and home treatment teams. They will also work in emergency duty teams, which are predominantly local authority employed and led.