Mind comments on Cochrane and King's Fund reports: Goverment figures totally inaccurate

Embargoed release - 00.01 hrs Tuesday 20 September 2005

Mind says new research reveals incompetence of Government's plans for compulsory treatment: ten times as many people could be affected

Richard Brook, Mind's Chief Executive said:
"One of Mind's grave concerns over the draft Mental Health Bill has been the probability of far too many people being swept up into compulsory treatment in the community. The King's Fund report shows that this is likely to be the reality: numbers are predicted to be 13,000 or more, ten times the Government estimate of 1,450.

The system is unlikely to achieve any real benefits, as shown by the Cochrane Institute report - the major provider of evidence-based information in healthcare. It finds no evidence of any advantages of compulsion in the community, either in the reduction of hospital admissions or in the improvement of quality of life or satisfaction with care.

Mind believes that the Bill could induce fear of compulsory treatment into the many ordinary people with mental health problems, driving them away from seeking the help they may desperately need. The Cochrane report supports this, recognising that CTOs may damage the relationship between patients and mental health services.

The research also shows that the decision for compulsory treatment orders is driven unduly by inpatient resources and not by the individual patient's needs - that is lack of beds leading to an ill-considered discharge into the community, often unwanted by the person concerned. This supports the many personal stories that Mind has received from people with mental health problems, experiencing this situation under the current Mental Health Act. Furthermore, there is a disastrous lack of provision of aftercare, which again this draft Bill has failed to include any attempt to address. Recent research shows that failures of aftercare account for high levels of re-admissions.

Both lead to people inappropriately receiving compulsory treatment in the community, to which Mind is implacably opposed."

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