The Act – Overview Breach of orders and offences Section 67 Absconding from hospital
138.This section makes provision where a person subject to a short term detention or exceptional detention order breaches that order by absconding, either while being removed to the detention hospital or from the hospital in which the person is detained.
139.The absconder may be taken into custody by a constable, an officer of the health board or an officer of a local authority and returned to hospital for the period specified in the original order. Any period during which the person was in breach of the order is to be left out of account in calculating that period. Subsection (6) provides that a person who takes a person into custody and who returns such person to hospital may enter any premises in which the quarantined person is present. Subsection (7) provides that a person who takes a person into custody may enter any premises in which the quarantined person is present at any time and use reasonable force to gain entry. A person taken into custody under this section and who absconds may be taken into custody again and detained in accordance with this section.