header-logo header-logo

Long-awaited reforms on mental health

13 November 2024
Issue: 8094 / Categories: Legal News , Mental health
printer mail-detail
Lawyers have welcomed the Mental Health Bill, which modernises the law regarding detention and compulsory treatment

The Bill, which was introduced in the House of Lords last week, will reform the Mental Health Act 1983—found to be outdated by a 2018 independent review conducted by Professor Sir Simon Wessely.

The review identified rising rates of detention, racial disparities in detention and treatment orders, poor patient experience and disadvantages felt by people with a learning disability and autistic people.

According to the government, the Bill aims to give people greater choice and autonomy over their treatment, will end the use of police cells to detain someone experiencing a mental health crisis, and will require clinicians to review a patient’s treatment more frequently. It clarifies that individuals should only be detained if their condition means they are a risk of serious harm to themselves or others, and treatment in detention has a reasonable prospect of helping them.

Families and friends will be given more opportunities to contribute to decisions about treatment. The government also says it wants to limit the length of time people with a learning disability and autistic people can be detained under the Act if they do not have a co-occurring mental health condition that needs hospital treatment and have not committed a criminal offence.

Law Society president Richard Atkinson said: ‘We are pleased it protects patients from inappropriate detention and provides them with enough involvement and support in decisions about their care.

‘We hope the Bill will give mental health patients access to justice, dignity and the respect they deserve. In the previous parliament, we had worked closely with the joint committee on the draft Mental Health Bill. We will continue to scrutinise the newly published Bill to ensure that it provides agency to individuals.’

The Bill is due to have its second reading at the end of this month.

Issue: 8094 / Categories: Legal News , Mental health
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Excello Law—five appointments

Excello Law—five appointments

Fee-share firm expands across key practice areas with senior appointments

Irwin Mitchell—Grace Morahan

Irwin Mitchell—Grace Morahan

International divorce team welcomes new hire

Switalskis—14 trainee solicitors

Switalskis—14 trainee solicitors

Firm welcomes largest training cohort in its history

NEWS
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll