Almost half of emergency detentions on mental health grounds were made without first getting consent from a specialist social worker, a review has found.
Between July and December last year a total of 1,109 emergency detention certificates (EDCs) were used in crisis situations to detain a patient deemed to need urgent care or treatment.
The Mental Health Act states consent to this should be obtained from a specialist social worker, known as a mental health officer, wherever practical.
A review by the Mental Welfare Commission found consent was only granted in 55% of cases.
In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where 374 detentions were authorised over the six-month period, 66% were without consent, according to the review - which was ordered by the Scottish Government.
Any doctor can issue an EDC, which then allows for someone to be kept in hospital for 72 hours.
The Mental Welfare Commission has now called on the Scottish Government to urge action plans be drawn-up in areas where there is a low rate of consent.
Ministers are also being urged to make sure they give "sufficiently clear guidance on the expectations on doctors and mental health officers in relation to emergency detention" while health boards are being urged to review training and guidance on the use of EDCs for junior doctors.
Colin McKay, chief executive of the Mental Welfare Commission, said: "While there was no single reason why consents were sometimes so low, I hope health boards and local authorities across Scotland can learn from our findings."
He added he was "particularly pleased" the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health and Social Care Partnership had taken the issue on board and drawn up an improvement plan.
Mr McKay said the commission "were pleased to be asked to undertake this audit because mental health officers play a valuable role in the decision to detain a person".
He stated: "They provide the important safeguard of looking critically at the proposal to detain and can look at alternative ways of supporting a person without needing to use compulsory admission to hospital.
"Where someone does need to be admitted, mental health officers can help explain the whole process, with the aim of trying to make the whole experience less traumatic."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here