The Government has published a new whitepaper which sets our proposals for reforms to the Mental Health Act.
These proposals are aimed at empowering individuals to have more control over their treatment as well as to take action to address disproportionate detention of people, particularly from minority groups.
This legislation represents key progress towards the Government's commitment to introduce the biggest changes to the Mental Health Act for 40 years and helping to end the stigma of mental illness.
Along with the whitepaper which can be read here there is a consultation to take feedback. The consultation will run until April. We want to hear your thoughts on the proposals as well as your ideas so take a look at the paper and give some feedback.
Let's help make the system better for all.
We want to ensure our health service works for all and that we deliver parity between mental and physical health services. These reforms will rightly see people not just as patients, but as individuals, with rights, preferences, and expertise, who are able to rely on a system which supports them and only intervenes proportionately, and which has their health and wellbeing as its centre.
Four principles will shape our approach to reforming legislation, policy and practice:
- Choice and autonomy – ensuring service users’ views and choices are respected
- Least restriction – ensuring the Act’s powers are used in the least restrictive way
- Therapeutic benefit – ensuring patients are supported to get better, so they can be discharged from the Act
- The person as an individual – ensuring patients are viewed and treated as rounded individuals
Mental health is a concern raised in my constituency casework relatively frequently, from patients, carers and people with interest in making change, so let's work together and make a positive impact on mental health legislation for all.
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