Mind urges Government to get Mental Health Act reform back on track

Posted Wednesday 26 November 2003

Mental health charity calls on Government to reconsider mental health reforms as Mental Health Bill is omitted from Queen's Speech again.

Mind, the leading mental health charity, has called on the Government to face up to its responsibility to listen to the needs of mental health service users to modernise mental health law, as the Mental Health Bill was once more omitted from today's Queen's Speech.

The charity has been pressing the Government for a drastic overhaul of mental health law for some years now, and founded the Mental Health Alliance for this purpose. However, the charity has been dismayed by the retrogressive approach taken by the Government. The Draft Mental Health Bill published last year was met with almost universal criticism, and a national survey commissioned by Mind (1) found that one in three members of the public would be deterred from seeking medical help for depression if it was made law. Areas of concern included measures to force people to take medication against their will in the community. Campaigners from across the mental health spectrum have agreed that the current 1983 Act is better than the proposals put forward last year.

Today, Mind urged the Government to go back to the drawing board, and a commitment to developing a sensitive, modern, rights-based framework for mental health law, with the well-being of mental health service users it its core.

Richard Brook, Chief Executive of Mind, said:
"Although the 1983 Mental Health Act is badly in need of updating, Government attempts at reform to date have been a massive step backwards. If today's omission means that the Government is now going to listen to the real experts, then we welcome it. However, the Government has a dual responsibility now, firstly to clear up the mess left by years of speculation and press ahead with progressive reform; and secondly to get it right this time by listening to the real experts. Mental health groups like Mind have been offering their expertise for many years; it's time the Government acted to produce a Mental Health Act which will provide effective rights and safeguards for the one in four people affected by mental health problems."

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Notes
1 An NOP survey of 1001 members of the public, commissioned by Mind in September 2002, found that 37 per cent of people would be deterred from seeking help from their GP for depression if the Draft Mental Health Bill were made law.

2 Mind is the founder member of the Mental Health Alliance, a group of over 60 voluntary, professional and service user groups who are campaigning for a new Mental Health Act but opposed to Government proposals to date.

Further Mind comments
For immediate release: 26 November 2003 1 pm

In the light of the Department of Health announcement of pre-legislative scrutiny before pressing ahead with mental health law reforms, Mind has welcomed the prospect of a full examination of proposals before a new Mental Health Bill is put forward.

However, the charity sounded a note of caution, warning the Government that only by listening to the real experts - the one in four people with experience of mental health problems - can they hope to get a new legal framework for mental health right.

Richard Brook, Chief Executive of Mind, said:
“We at Mind are pleased that the Government is taking mental health reform seriously, and we welcome today’s commitment to put the proposed Bill before pre-legislative scrutiny. However, unless the needs and concerns of people with mental health problems are properly taken into account in this process, and reflected in any subsequent legislation, they will once more be neglecting their most important stakeholders."

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