We have learnt today that the Government plans to introduce changes to the Mental Health Act via a new Mental Health Bill.
Today’s press release concentrates on measures that we saw in the 2022 Draft Bill under the Conservative government. The headline changes include an end to the use of police and prisons as ‘places of safety’ for people in crisis, removing more autistic people and people with learning disabilities from the scope of the Act, and introducing statutory care and treatment plans.
As we have pointed out previously, some of the proposals being put forward do have the potential to improve the experiences of people who are detained under certain circumstances, if they are properly resourced and implemented. While the press release does acknowledge issues around a lack of autonomy in the system, stating that outdated laws “fail to give patients an adequate voice” and that “patients currently have little say over their care and treatment”, we felt that the previous iteration of the draft Mental Health Bill did not go far enough in a shift towards truly rights-based care, and are yet to see detail of the differences between that iteration and what is about to be introduced by the current government.
Black people are over three times more likely to be detained under the Mental Heath Act and 11 times more likely to receive an inappropriate Community Treatment Order, but the press release fails to elaborate on steps toward addressing and reforming what we know to be a structurally oppressive system which further marginalises racialised communities.
Of course people experiencing mental health crises should not be placed in prisons, and patients should be afforded as much control as possible over their care, but these proposals are ultimately meaningless in a system where community care is chronically under-resourced. Today’s press release references the £26 million promised for new ‘mental health crisis centres’ in the Autumn Budget, but neglects to provide any more detail on what these centres might look like, or any additional funding for any other area of mental health care besides talking therapies.
We will be closely monitoring the new Bill as it is released in full and debated in Parliament, and remain committed to a rights-based approach to mental health care that allows for real alternatives to detention and properly-resourced community care. The existence of such a system will also be dependent on an end to austerity and the criminalisation of Disability and ill-health of all kinds.
You can read more about NSUN’s previous work around the reform of the Mental Health Act here.