Section 11 of the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020 inserted section 38A in the Health Act 1947. Section 38A of the Health Act 1947 provides for the detention and isolation of persons in certain circumstances. Having regard to matters set out in section 38A(2), a medical officer of health may order in writing the detention and isolation of a person where the medical officer of health believes in good faith that a person is a potential source of infection from Covid-19 and that such person cannot be effectively isolated, refuses to remain or appears unlikely to remain in his or her home or other accommodation arranged, or agreed, by the HSE. Section 38A(5) provides that a person who is the subject of an order may request that his or her detention be reviewed by a medical officer of health, other than the officer who makes the order concerned, on the grounds that he or she is not a potential source of infection.
There is no Ministerial regulation making power under the provisions of section 38A. Decisions are made by a medical officer of health, who must act in good faith and have regard to the provisions of the section.
I understand from the HSE that no person has to date been the subject of a detention order under section 38A of the Health Act 1947. I also understand that the HSE is currently in the process of finalising protocols and procedures and support arrangements in relation to section 38A of the Act.
