Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983 by Simon Wessely (2018)
Extract from website: "The review was set up to look at how the legislation in the Mental Health Act 1983 is used and how practice can improve. The purpose of the review is to understand the reasons for: (a) rising rates of detention under the Act; (b) the disproportionate number of people from black and minority ethnic groups detained under the Act; (c) processes that are out of step with a modern mental health care system. The review will seek the views of service users, carers, relevant professionals, and affected organisations in producing recommendations. It will produce a report with recommendations for change in autumn 2018."
- Gov.uk: main page
- Department of Health, 'Terms of Reference - Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983' (policy paper, 4/10/17)
- Law Society, 'Mental Health Act 1983 Independent Review: Call for Evidence: Law Society response' (22/1/18)
- Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983, 'Modernising the Mental Health Act: Increasing choice, reducing compulsion' (final report, 6/12/18) — The report states that "[a] purpose and a set of principles should be included in the Act itself" and makes recommendations under the following headings: (1) Principle 1 - Choice and autonomy: (a) Making decisions about care and treatment; (b) Family and carer involvement; (c) Advocacy; (d) Complaints; (e) Deaths in detention. (2) Principle 2 - Least Restriction: (a) Tackling the rising rates of detention; (b) Criteria for detention; (c) A statutory Care and Treatment Plan; (d) Length of detention; (e) Challenging detention; (f) Deprivation of liberty: MCA or MHA?; (g) Community Treatment Orders; (h) Coercion and restrictive practices within inpatient settings. (3) Principle 3 - Therapeutic Benefit: (a) Care planning/aftercare; (b) Hospital visitors; (c) Inpatient social environments; (d) Inpatient physical environments. (4) Principle 4 - The Person as an Individual: (a) Person centred care; (b) Recognition of patient individuality at the tribunal; (c) The experiences of people from ethnic minority communities; (d) Children and young people; (e) People with learning disabilities, autism or both; (f) Policing; (g) Patients in the criminal justice system; (h) Immigration Detention; (i) Victims. (5) System wide enablers: (a) Data; (b) Digital enablers; (c) Quality Improvement (QI); (d) Staffing; (e) Improving staff morale.
RESOURCES DATABASE
Type: Consultation🔍
Title: Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983
Author: Department of Health🔍
Date: 4/10/17🔍
Date closed: 31/12/18🔍
What links here:
- Department of Health, 'Terms of Reference - Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983' (policy paper, 4/10/17)
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Jonathan Wilson, 'Mental health: update' (Legal Action, February 2018)
- Jonathan Wilson, 'Mental health: update' (Legal Action, February 2019)
- Law Society, 'Mental Health Act 1983 Independent Review: Call for Evidence: Law Society response' (22/1/18)
- Mental Health Act 1983