Commentary on Sections Part 17 – Patient Representation Chapter 1: named persons Section 257: named person: Tribunal’s powers
498.Section 257 gives the Tribunal power to make certain orders about named persons. Subsection (1) deals with applications in respect of patients who have no named person. The Tribunal may make an order appointing a specified person to be the patient’s named person. Subsection (2) deals with applications in respect of inappropriate named persons. The Tribunal may make an order declaring that the acting named person is not the named person or substituting the person specified in the application as the named person for the acting named person. In relation to applications made under section 256(1)(c), the Tribunal may make such order as it thinks fit, although it cannot appoint a person under 16 years of age to be a patient’s named person (subsection (4)).