Mind responds to King’s Speech
The King’s Speech is the main opportunity for the UK government to highlight its upcoming priorities. It forms part of the State Opening of Parliament ceremony, and marks the start of the new parliamentary year.
The new government has announced its intention to introduce legislation to modernise the Mental Health Act. This is the main piece of law which sets out when people with mental health problems can be detained for treatment against their will. The King expressed the government’s intention to ensure mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health.
Mind submitted a range of written and oral evidence to the Joint Committee on the draft Mental Health Bill, calling for a number of reforms including:
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Fully abolishing Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) for all patients. Black people are 8 times more likely to be issued with a CTO
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Tackling the shameful racism enabled under the Act with greater cultural advocacy and an anti-racist guiding principle
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Introducing an automatic right to assessment and treatment, as well as a right to appeal decisions you don’t agree with
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Introducing a legal duty to offer advanced choice documents, which help give people greater say over the care they receive when unwell
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Strengthening the protections of children and young people to stop them being placed on adult or out-of-area wards and introducing a new statutory decision-making test.
Responding to the news, Dr Sarah Hughes, Chief Executive of Mind, said:
“Reforming the Mental Health Act is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. With the number of people being detained under the Act at a five-year high, bringing the law into the twenty-first century is a welcome first step in tackling the nation’s mental health crisis. The previous government made a number of positive proposals for reforming the Act, but there is still a way to go.
“This bill is a chance to strengthen people’s rights, choice, and control when they’re being treated in a mental health hospital. It’s a chance that must be taken to address the shameful racial disparities the law currently enables, particularly for Black people who are nearly four times more likely to be detained. And it’s a chance to ditch Community Treatment Orders, which are meant to give people supervised treatment in the community but are too often intrusive, restrictive and fail to reduce readmissions as they were intended.
“These ambitious reforms will need funding and resources to be delivered and fully realised. We stand ready to work with the new UK government to make sure we seize this opportunity and create the wholesale reform of the mental health system we need now more than ever.”
