Your relative has several rights, powers and responsibilities:

• They can apply for you to be admitted to hospital (although usually an approved social worker will do this)
  
  
• They must be told if the approved social worker has applied (or is applying) for you to be detained under Section 2* of the Mental Health Act.
  
  
• They must be told if the approved social worker plans to detain you under Section 3** of the Mental Health Act (unless it is not practical to do so or it would cause an unreasonable delay). They can object to the application to detain you. However, the approved social worker can ask the court to appoint someone else as your nearest relative if he or she thinks the objection is unreasonable.
  
  
• They can apply for you to be discharged from hospital (allowed to leave), although the doctor in charge of your treatment can stop this.
  
  
• A nearest relative cannot apply for a discharge if the section was made in a criminal court under 5.3.7.


* (Which allows you to be detained for up to 28 days for assessment.)
** (This section allows you to be detained for up to six months for treatment.)

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