Guardianship Orders: a review of their use under the 1983 Mental Health Act

This article reviews what has been reported in literature about the use of Guardianship Orders under the Mental Health Act 1983. Guardianship Orders were used infrequently in comparison with Sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Mental Health Act although the number of guardianship cases has increased three-fold since 1982. Elderly female patients with organic brain disease were the group on whom guardianship was most used either to support them in the community or to facilitate admission to residential care. Guardianship was rarely used to prevent hospitalization. Despite its many drawbacks, for a selected group of patients guardianship did appear to have advantages and was found to be worthy of consideration for practising clinicians and approved social workers.