Free aftercare under section 117

Find out if you can get free aftercare under section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

About section 117 aftercare services

‘Aftercare’ means the help you get when you leave hospital.

Section 117 means that you will get free aftercare when you leave hospital for services which meet a need arising from your mental illness.

Section 117 aftercare services are to help reduce the risk of you becoming unwell again and possibly needing re-admission to hospital.

Your illness might affect you in different ways. Your aftercare will help you with your particular ‘needs’. The NHS and local authority (social care) will provide your section 117 aftercare needs.

You may get specialist housing, help to meet other people, help with work or education and free prescriptions for mental health medication.

Who is entitled to section 117 aftercare

Aftercare services arise from or are related to your mental health condition. You are entitled to section 117 aftercare if you have been in hospital under section 3, section 37, section 45A, section 47 or section 48 of the Mental Health Act 1983 and if you are placed on a Community Treatment Order (section 17A) after discharge from hospital.

You will not be entitled to free aftercare if you have only been in hospital under section section 2, section 4, section 5 or section 38 of the Mental Health Act 1983.

Aftercare services should help reduce the risk that you may need to be admitted to hospital again for treatment of your mental illness.

If you stay in hospital

You might want to stay in hospital after you have been discharged from the Mental Health Act 1983 section 3, 37, 45A, 47 or 48 . This is called being an ‘informal’ patient. If you don’t leave hospital straight away, you will still get free aftercare when you do leave.

You will only start getting aftercare services when you leave hospital.

If you go back to hospital

If you go back into hospital, your section 117 will not end. Some people worry that if they are detained in hospital under section 2 in the future, section 117 aftercare will end. This will not happen.

How section 117 aftercare is started

Planning for your aftercare should start very soon in your admission so that all the arrangements are in place for your care and support when you are discharged.

A section 117 planning meeting will be arranged involving who you wish to be involved. This can include family, friends, or carers.

If you would find it helpful an Independent Mental Health Advocate can be involved in the meeting to help ensure that you are able to express your views of what is important in your recovery.

A care plan will be drawn up describing the support you will receive and any services to be provided and who is responsible for them. A copy of the care plan will be offered to you and your family or carers.

The NHS and Dorset Council have a legal duty to commission any aftercare services. The people identified as responsible for each service at the planning meeting have the duty of ensuring that the care plan is in place by the time you are discharged from hospital.

Following discharge, the care plan will be implemented by the organisations involved in providing the support.

When section 117 aftercare will end

Your aftercare should only stop when your identified outcomes have been met.

The NHS and us have to give you aftercare as long as you need it. Even if you are doing well outside of hospital, you may still need aftercare services to make sure you stay well. Ending section 117 is called being ‘discharged’ from section 117. The NHS and us must both decide that you no longer need any aftercare services. They should not discharge you from section 117 when you are still getting services you need.

Section 117 aftercare should be reviewed regularly at section 117 review meetings to ensure that this meets your needs. You will be invited to review meetings and you can bring a carer or family member if you want.

Section 117 aftercare does not necessarily end when:

• you have been discharged from specialist mental health services, such as a community mental health team
• a certain length of time has passed since you left hospital
• you go back to hospital voluntarily or under section 2
• your Community Treatment Order ends
• you refuse aftercare services

If aftercare services are no longer needed, section 117 eligibility can be ended. This means that the exemption from charges will cease to apply. This can happen if your needs change and they relate to physical health care needs rather than those for your mental health.

The decision to end section 117 eligibility rests with the NHS and us, and both must be represented at the section 117 review meeting to which you must be invited and a carer or family member if you want.

What services might be included

The aim of section 117 is to provide aftercare services that, 

“meet a need arising from or related to the patient’s mental disorder and [reduce] the risk of a deterioration of the patient’s mental condition…” (Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice, 2015, paragraph 33.3).

Aftercare services and needs should be considered broadly, including consideration of:

• healthcare
• social care
• medication
• assistance with employment opportunities
• direct payments and personal health care budgets
• specialist accommodation which meets a need arising from your mental health and helps to reduce the possibility of a deterioration in your mental health and readmission to hospital
• any other support required to meet any social, cultural and spiritual needs

Further information

Benefit entitlement

Your benefits may be affected when in receipt of services under section 117 aftercare of the Mental Health Act 1983. It is your responsibility (or the responsibility of the person with authority to act on your behalf) to contact the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) to inform them of the date that you received the funding. You will need to confirm which needs and/or services are being funded in this way, including any accommodation provision.

It is important that you contact each benefit paying department to update them as it cannot be guaranteed that one department will inform the others, if you receive more than one benefit, e.g. PIP and ESA. They will then be able to advise if any benefits may be affected. This should be completed as soon as possible to avoid the risk of potential overpayments.

Your Housing and Council Tax benefits may also be affected when provided with accommodation under section 117 aftercare. You should therefore advise us of this funding and which housing related costs are being met under section 117 aftercare.

If you have problems with section 117

If you have a problem with section 117, you should talk to your Community Lead Professional (professional you have most contact with e.g. Social Worker or Community Practice Nurse). If you do not have a Community Lead Professional, talk to your main contacts in the NHS and us.

Advocacy

If you need support, advocates can help you to get your point across.

If you are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 or subject to a Community Treatment Order you can get help from an Independent Mental Health Advocate (IMHA) by contacting Dorset Mental Health Forum.

Policy

For more information, read the Section 117 Mental Health After-Care Dorset Joint Policy.

Complaints

If there are still unresolved issues or you are unhappy with your care, in the first instance please discuss these with the lead professional involved in supporting you. If the matter remains unresolved or if you wish to make a complaint please contact (any of the organisations complaints routes can be used to raise a concern)

If you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint it may be possible to complain to the Ombudsman whose role is to make final decisions on complaints that have not been resolved. This is a free and impartial service.

Health Service Ombudsman helpline: 0345 105 4033

This information was adapted with permission of the Devon Partnership NHS Trust who produced the original version and retain the copyright status.

The information on this page is available in additional languages and alternative formats. Please contact Dorset HealthCare on 01202 277000.

Leaflet ref: PD-MHS45-22