The Structure & a Summary of the Act Part One – the 2003 Act Amendment of section 224
36.Section 10 further amends section 224, by making similar amendments to those made to section 127 referenced above. As is the case with section 127, a patient’s RMO can, with the consent of the Scottish Ministers, grant suspension of detention for a maximum of 9 months in a 12 month period. Section 10 amends this to provide that suspension of detention can now be granted for a maximum of 200 days in any 12 month period. Any period of suspension authorised which is 8 hours or less is not to be counted towards the maximum of 200 days, and periods of more than 8 hours but less than 24 hours are to be counted as one day, whether it falls within one day or spans two days.