The government has published a revised draft Mental Health Bill following lengthy discussions with stakeholder groups.

The new Bill changes the definition of mental disorder to emphasise that it is the “effect rather than the underlying cause” that is important. Treatment, either through compulsion or administered on a voluntary basis, will also be more focused on the individual.

This revised bill is the biggest reform of mental health legislation since the 1950s.
The government says it provides improved safeguards for patients and better procedures for treatment to the small minority of people with mental health problems who need to be treated against their will to prevent them from harming themselves.

It also provides a diversion from prison for non-dangerous offenders with mental health problems and provides better protection to the public from those who are deemed a risk to others, by ensuring they receive the treatment they need.
Health minister Rosie Winterton said the legislation is an “integral part” of the government’s wider strategy to improve mental health services.

“We have held extensive discussions with stakeholders since we published a draft Bill for consultation in 2002 and we believe that we now have a Bill that puts a new focus on the individual, allowing compulsory powers to be used in ways that fit with patients’ changing needs,” she said.

“One of the fundamental aims of the Bill is to help make community care work for the people who need it most. Patients in the community who are ill and vulnerable or at risk will now be able to get the treatment they need.”

To calm human rights fears, Winterton said people will only be subject to treatment under the Bill “if they are at risk of harm to themselves or others”.
“The bill means that the small minority of people with mental health problems who need to be treated against their wishes, normally for their protection but occasionally to protect the public, will get the right treatment at the right time,” she added.
The legislation will now be put before a joint parliamentary committee.

• The proposed bill has been criticised for infringement of patients’ human rights. Paul Farmer, chairman of the Mental Health Alliance believes “the revised Bill remains objectionable in principle and unworkable in practice,”. “Collaboration with patients, rather than compulsion, is at the heart of good nursing practice”, according to Beverly Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing and Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of SANE makes the point that “only if new laws are backed by improved services can they lead to compassionate care”.