News

Taking evidence from witnesses located abroad

It would be helpful if parties who wish to lead oral evidence in tribunal proceedings from witnesses located outside of the UK could contact the tribunal in advance to intimate their intention to lead such evidence.

It would also be helpful if the party could please confirm the reason why they are seeking to lead oral evidence from someone situated in that other country

Tribunal Members' Newsletter January 2026

Click here to download the latest Members' Newsletter
To view previous Newsletters, click here.
To view Members' Newsletter index of news items and articles, click here.

Tribunal Members' Newsletter SEPTEMBER 2025

Click here to download the latest Members' Newsletter
Click here for the supplement relating to the 20th Anniversary of MHTS
To view previous Newsletters, click here
To view Members' Newsletter index of news items and articles, click here.

Translated CTO Applications

We have recently undertaken an exercise to translate the CTO application forms in to some alternative languages. Although, under the 2003 Act, the primary responsibility for providing communication assistance to a patient whose first language is not English lies with hospital managers, the Tribunal has found itself instructing translation of paperwork from time to time. To try to avoid repeat translation of the standard parts of a CTO application pack, we have therefore had the CTO1 and CTO2 translated into what we have found to be the six commonest foreign languages in our proceedings. This is to try to achieve a situation where only the individual parts of an application need to be translated. The languages concerned are: Arabic, Cantonese (Traditional Chinese), Mandarin (Simplified Chinese), Panjabi, Polish and Urdu. They are available here, and we hope they may be of use to practitioners.

Tribunal Members' Newsletter MAY 2025

Click here to download the latest Members' Newsletter
To view previous Newsletters, click here
To view Members' Newsletter index of news items and articles, click here.

Avoiding unintentional lapse of orders

I want to clarify how stakeholders can help us to identify cases where there may be a risk of an order lapsing. Lapse carries a risk of creating unauthorised detention and/or treatment. All possible steps to minimise this risk need to be taken.

We regularly receive applications where a deadline is imminent. The categories these tend to fall into are:

under section 92 or 158 of the 2003 Act for extension and variation of a CTO or CO (CTO4 forms);
under section 95 or 161 for variation of a community-based CTO or CO (CTO5 forms) where the patient is in hospital on a short term detention certificate or a certificate under section 114 of the Act; and
under section 149 for first extension of a compulsion order (CO1 forms).

We are receiving a very high number of applications and this seems set to continue. Our inboxes are monitored throughout each working day, but it is not always clear from a screening of incoming emails that a particular application is urgent. If an order or certificate is going to expire within the next three days, please draw attention to this in the subject line of the email, both by stating the application type (senders usually identify the type of form) AND wording such as 'IMMINENT EXPIRY' or 'URGENT' too.

Please draw this message to the attention of all who send applications to MHTS on your behalf.

Laura Dunlop KC, President

Additional Venues for In-person hearings

We have updated the list of venues available for in-person hearings. For information on venues please visit the venues page of our website here, and select the venue you are travelling to from the list in the drop down menu.

We ask that those lodging an application to complete the Hearing Preference Form, available here [link] and submit it to us with the application. Alternatively you can provide the hearing preference information on the scheduling pro forma along with your application.

In-person Venue Table

Carseview Centre	Lynebank Hospital	Wishaw General Hospital
Royal Edinburgh Hospital	Midpark Hospital	Woodland View Hospital
Gartnavel Royal Hospital	Murray Royal Hospital	St Johns Hospital
Dykebar Hospital	Stobhill Hospital(Nevis building)	Langhill, Inverclyde
Statheden Hospital	Hamilton House (c)	George House (c)
Royal Cornhill Hospital	Glasgow Tribunal Centre (c)	Dr Gray's
Kingsway Care Centre, Dundee	Ayr Clinic	The Priory, Glasgow
Midlothian Community	New Craigs Hospital	Galavale
Murray Royal Rohallion	Dudhope House	Stracathro
Hairmyres Hospital	Skye House	Glasgow Royal Hospital for children and young people
Rowanbank	An Drochaid Centre, Fort William	The Bruce Centre, Dumbarton
Falkirk Community	Belford Hospital, Fort William	Beckford Lodge
Leverndale	Strathmartine	Surehaven
Glasgow Royal Infirmary	East Lothian Community Hospital	Ellen's Glen House
Buchan House, Peterhead	Bruce House, Arbroath	Whitehills Health & Community Care Centre, Forfar
Monklands Hospital	Whytemans Brae	Whins Resource Centre, Alloa

Webex Venue Table

Royal Cornhill Hospital	Forth Valley Royal Hospital	The State Hospital
Mid Argyll Hospital	Rowanbank	Murray Royal Rohallion
Glasgow Royal Hospital for children and young people	An Drochaid Centre, Fort William	Dudhope House
Skye House	Buchan House, Peterhead

Security Measures at Glasgow Tribunals Centre and Inverness Justice Centre

When attending either the Glasgow Tribunals Centre or the Inverness Justice Centre for a Tribunal, you should be aware that there are security measures at the entrance to the venues, and if you have a bag with you it is likely to be searched before allowing you entry to the Tribunal suite area.

MHTS Ethnicity Survey

In their 2021 report on Ethnicity in Mental Health Services in Scotland, the Mental Welfare Commission recommended that MHTS should conduct a survey of the ethnic breakdown of its membership, and should take steps to increase the ethnic diversity of that membership. The steps taken by MHTS in response, including the results of the survey carried out, are available here

Napier Report - Written response

Members will be interested to know that a written response on behalf of the Tribunal has been sent to the authors of the 2022 Study Report on MHTS, carried out by academics from Napier and Queen's University. To read the written response, click here.

Comparison of Application Numbers: 2017-2021

Click here to download stats.