Adult Social Care Glossary, v 0.6

[The draft Mental Health Bill 2022 proposes to replace the role of Nearest Relative (NR) with a role of Nominated Person (NP). This is defined differently from the current definition of Nominated Person as it applies to direct payments. The following is an extract from the Bill's explanatory notes. Note that this proposed definition of Nominated Person is NOT yet in force.]

Clauses 21, 22 and 23 of the draft Mental Health Bill introduce a new statutory role to the Mental Health Act (MHA) – the nominated person (NP) – to replace the nearest relative (NR). The MHA provides for the role of the NR. It sets out a hierarchical list of ‘relatives’ and includes a number of rules for identifying the NR from this list. The Independent Review highlighted that service users and stakeholders consistently found the current model of family and carer involvement outdated and insufficient. This was found to be particularly true of the current NR provisions.

122. The general intention of this reform is that, in place of the NR, a patient would be able to personally select the NP to represent them and exercise the relevant statutory functions which the draft Bill extends. This supports the policy objective of improving support for detained patients and is linked to the wider policy intention to ensure that the views, experiences and expertise of patients are taken into account more fully and more seriously in their care and treatment, by allowing an individual to express their wishes through someone they know and trust. In doing so, these measures support the principle of choice and autonomy.