Commentary on Sections Part 5 – Emergency Detention
64.In an emergency, the need for a patient to be detained in hospital means that there might not be enough time to make arrangements for the usual procedures leading to short-term detention (see Part 6) or long-term detention (see Part 7) to be followed. Part 5 therefore provides an emergency procedure under which a patient may be removed to hospital and detained there for up to 72 hours on the basis of a certificate granted by a medical practitioner. The procedure for granting an emergency detention certificate is the same whether or not the patient was in hospital prior to being detained.