In England, the First-tier Tribunal (Mental Health), which is part of the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal and, in Wales, the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Wales (together the "the Tribunal"), are independent judicial bodies which have the power to direct the discharge of a patient or recommend the discharge of certain offender patients subject to special restrictions, where it considers that the patient should no longer be detained under the 1983 Act.
	A patient’s detention is reviewed by the Tribunal on application by or on behalf of the patient, on referral from the Secretary of State (or in Wales by Welsh Ministers) or on referral by hospital managers for certain patients, where a patient’s case has not been considered by the Tribunal within a specified period.
	The Act extends the period during which a patient may apply to the Tribunal and extends the existing referral system to increase the frequency and widen the group of patients in respect of whom referrals to the Tribunal must be made ("automatic referrals").
	These changes are intended to ensure patients have greater access to the Tribunal and those patients who lack the ability or initiative to make an application to the Tribunal can benefit from the safeguard of increased independent judicial scrutiny of their detention by the Tribunal on a more regular basis. This measure is informed by the principle of least restriction.
Periods for applications and references to the tribunal