A guide to community mental health law for district nurses: the right to aftercare.

District nurses frequently provide physical care and treatment to patients in their own homes and care homes who have previously been detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 for the treatment of a mental illness. Such patients are commonly subject to community provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 and it is important that districts nurses are aware of the implications of these provisions on the patients care and support. In this article the author considers a detained mental health patient's right to aftercare under the Mental Health Act 1983, section 117.