New Mental Health Bill will drive people from services, says the Sainsbury Centre

8 September 2004

"The Government's proposals for a new Mental Health Act will threaten people's human rights and place an intolerable burden on services," Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH) acting chief executive Angela Greatley said today.

Responding to the publication of the second draft Mental Health Bill, Angela Greatley said: "The Government has once again proposed a law that will place psychiatrists and social workers under pressure to detain many more people and compel them to take treatments that do not benefit them. It is a backward step.

"Today's draft Bill will alarm mental health service users, carers and staff alike. If enacted, it would drive many people with mental health problems to stay away from services for fear of being treated against their will.

"While some of our major concerns about compulsory treatment in the community have been alleviated, this second draft Bill uses definitions of 'mental disorder' and 'treatment' that are still too broad.

"We are especially concerned about the effect the Bill would have on people from black and minority ethnic communities. Our report, 'Breaking the Circles of Fear', has shown what already happens when African and Caribbean people delay or avoid getting help because of the coercive treatment they get from mental health services. Fear of force will only make this worse.

"The draft Bill is now badly out of step with the rest of the Government's agenda. It is incompatible with the Government's efforts to tackle social exclusion; to promote patient choice; and to improve race equality.

"The NHS and social services already struggle to recruit and retain mental health workers. Many hospitals are already under great pressure and in a poor condition. The extra pressure caused by these proposals would only make it harder to get good quality care and support to the majority of people with mental health problems who do not need to be treated against their will.

"As members of the Mental Health Alliance, SCMH will seek to put forward a better legal framework for mental health to the scrutiny committee. That framework should include a legal right to assessment when people need it as a way of offering a genuinely responsive service to people with mental health problems."

Notes to Editors

The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health is a core member of the Mental Health Alliance. All requests for interviews with Alliance spokespeople on 8 September should be made to the Mind press office on 020 8522 1743.

Breaking the Circles of Fear, a review of the relationship between mental health services and African and Caribbean communities, was published by SCMH in 2002. A Breaking the Circles of Fear briefing paper is available to download here.

Copies of the full report can be ordered online from the publications section.