Marilyn Bryan is a magistrate in Keighley who sometimes hears appeals at Crown Court.

This role is particularly useful for Mrs Bryan’s other job as a hospital manager for Bradford District Care Trust.

The job description is misleading because she doesn’t actually manage Bradford Royal Infirmary or any other hospital.

What she does do, at least once a month, is sit on a review panel of three to adjudicate on appeals by patients sectioned under the Mental Health Act or those who have contravened Community Treatment Orders by refusing or neglecting to take prescribed medication.

Mrs Bryan volunteered for the job five years ago, having taken an interest in issues around mental health and learning disabilities at university.

She says: “For me, the attraction was being an ordinary lay person and, if you like, allowing people who have these difficulties to have a voice, and applying ordinary common sense.

“As a magistrate, I am used to listening and weighing up complex evidence. What I liked about the protocol is that it talked about what was lawful, reasonable and fair.

“Everybody has the right to be heard. It is important to me to see that justice is done to people who find themselves detained under the Mental Health Act, who have done nothing wrong.

“So many people do have mental health difficulties at some stage of their life, arising out of their circumstances. For a long time they have not been heard. They are often victims in one way or another.”

Barry Seal, chairman of the ever-expanding Bradford District Care Trust, said Mrs Bryan was very thorough in the way she looked into things and considered all the possibilities. He wants to recruit up to 25 more hospital managers.

He says: “But I am not looking for more JPs. I am looking for ordinary people who live in different parts of the Bradford district, who know what it’s like to have difficulties in life.

“We want 20 to 25 new recruits prepared to work within the guidelines of the Mental Health Act and attend at least one panel session a month, for which they will be paid £40.

“These hearings are extremely important. People used to be sectioned and sent to asylums for all their life. Our aim is not to keep people needlessly in hospital, but to get them out into the community, to get a job if possible.”

The review panels judge up to 300 appeals a year from people detained at Lynfield Mount or Airedale Hospital. Think of them as parole boards, empowered to question and challenge the decisions of doctors and nurses.

Mr Seal is asking potential volunteers to attend an evening meeting at Bradford District Care Trust next week.

Anyone interested who wants to take it further will fill out an application and later be interviewed.

“I am looking for people reasonably well-educated with lots of common sense, who ask questions, know what it’s like to live in the community and are capable of making fair judgements.

“I want a representative selection of people from the district, including more black and ethnic minorities. We have about three Asians at the moment.

“The other thing is we only want them to do the job for a set period – six years. We don’t want it to become a niche,” he added.

So while the Coalition Government makes up its collective mind about the role of competition in the future shape of NHS provision, the care trust is looking for recruits, knowing that across-the-board spending cuts of up to £20 billion could seriously effect the quality of its service.

* The public meeting, at New Mill, Saltaire, takes place next Monday at 5.30pm.