Forum Brief: Mental health
A mental health bill that would have forced mental patients to undergo treatment and allowed the detention of people with "dangerous" personality disorders will be reintroduced within weeks, it has been reported.
The news comes after compromise talks between mental health campaigners and ministers.
Forum Response: Depression Alliance
Jim Thomson, chief executive of the Depression Alliance said: "If the government has listened to the concerns of those who objected to the last draft Mental Health Bill then its re-introduction will make interesting reading.
"The last draft Bill contravened European Human Rights Law, was highly stigmatising and was likely to lead to a "safety first" culture in which people were detained due to a perception of risk rather than any actual threat to themselves and/or others.
"It was clear that the Bill did not concern itself with the health of the one in five of us who will be affected by depression at some point during our lives. We very much hope that the government gets it right this time."
Forum Response: SANE
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity SANE, said: "We have campaigned for reform of the Mental Health Act to achieve a better balance of rights between individuals, families and carers, and the community.
"We wish to see positive rights to care and treatment, enforceable rights for individuals to have their wishes taken into account through advance directives, and information and involvement for families and carers.
"However, we are concerned that if the emphasis in a Mental Health Bill is placed too strongly on compulsion and public safety, it would divert already over-pressed and depleted mental health professionals into underpinning laws of coercion instead of giving care and treatment.
"Another major worry is that without stronger proposals, families and carers expected to shoulder important responsibilities could still be kept out of the loop of essential information."
Forum Response: Disability Rights Commission
A spokesman for the DRC said: "The Disability Rights Commission will carefully study any revised proposals for mental health legislation for consistency with the principle of non-discrimination against mental health service users and consult fully with our Mental Health Action Group which includes users and survivors of mental health services.
"We supported some aspects of the original draft Bill, including strengthened safeguards in areas such as advocacy and the burden of proof, but we felt strongly that other parts of the Bill could entrench discrimination faced by this group of disabled people.
"On compulsory treatment, the DRC believes as a matter of principle that there should be a consistent legal framework covering both people with mental health problems who are incapable of making decisions for themselves, and others in a similar position, in situations such as coma, delirium or profound learning disability.
"Any law that uses a different threshold for consent to treatment for people with ‘mental disorder’ than for other citizens is likely to be discriminatory by definition.
"On compulsory detention, the DRC believes that there should not be a different threshold for detention in cases of future risk of violent crime for those with mental disorder than for other citizens.
"This is, again, discriminatory by definition. It should, however, be possible to detain someone who is ‘incapable’ of making decisions on their own actions and who poses a risk of violence.
"But this might apply equally to someone in the throes of a psychotic episode and someone who is drunk and needs to sober up. Again this could be addressed through legislation on the basis of 'incapacity', rather than using a separate threshold for people with ‘mental disorder’.
"We would urge the government to explore ways of reducing violent offences by ‘capable’ people – whether or not they have mental disorders - through criminal justice solutions, rather than 'mental health' legislation that is likely to create inequity."
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