TW v Enfield Borough Council [2014] EWCA Civ 362, [2014] All ER (D) 292 (Mar)
As a matter of construction of s 11(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983, when an approved social worker was considering whether it was “reasonably practicable” to consult the nearest relative before making an application to admit a mental patient pursuant to the 1983 Act, the section imposed on the social worker an obligation to strike a balance between the patient’s rights under Art 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights not to be detained unless that was done by a procedure that was in accordance with the law and the patient’s rights under Art 8 to his private life. A patient’s assertion, even if founded on fact and even if reasonable, that consultation would lead to an infringement of her rights under art 8 of the Convention could not, as a matter of law, lead automatically to the conclusion that it was “not reasonably practicable” to consult the “nearest relative”. Nor was an approved social worker’s conclusion that such consultation would lead to an infringement of the patient’s Art 8
