scholarly journals ‘Reforming the Mental Health Act’: implications of the Government's white paper for the management of patients with eating disorders

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 364-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Webster ◽  
Ulrike Schmidt ◽  
Janet Treasure
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Parental Consent ◽  
Involuntary Treatment ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Specialist Services ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Assessment Procedures

Patients with severe anorexia nervosa have a high mortality and relapse rate, yet specialist services and practitioners are few. A significant minority need detention with involuntary treatment. Furthermore, the mean age at presentation is 16 years, where detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 or parental consent is unclear and variable. This article addresses the implications of the proposed new Mental Health Act for people with eating disorders. The main issues are those of incapacity, assessment procedures, community detention, detention in 16–18-year-olds, implications for carers and resource implications. We hope to show that eating disorders, just like other illness categories, have special needs that cannot be blanketed under one process and that the Act has positive features, but also presents significant concerns.

scholarly journals ‘Reforming the Mental Health Act’: implications of the Government's white paper for the management of patients with eating disorders

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (10) ◽  
pp. 364-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Webster ◽  
Ulrike Schmidt ◽  
Janet Treasure
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Parental Consent ◽  
Involuntary Treatment ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Specialist Services ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Assessment Procedures

Patients with severe anorexia nervosa have a high mortality and relapse rate, yet specialist services and practitioners are few. A significant minority need detention with involuntary treatment. Furthermore, the mean age at presentation is 16 years, where detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 or parental consent is unclear and variable. This article addresses the implications of the proposed new Mental Health Act for people with eating disorders. The main issues are those of incapacity, assessment procedures, community detention, detention in 16–18-year-olds, implications for carers and resource implications. We hope to show that eating disorders, just like other illness categories, have special needs that cannot be blanketed under one process and that the Act has positive features, but also presents significant concerns.

The Use of Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in a Family of Rural English Police Forces

2003 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Greenberg ◽  
Niki Haines
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Rural Setting ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Act Assessment ◽  
Police Forces

Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 is used by police officers to detain persons who they feel might be suffering with mental disorder until a formal Mental Health Act assessment can be undertaken. Previous studies have shown that the outcomes of these assessments result in remarkably different rates of subsequent hospital admissions. Within a rural setting it has also been shown that the rate of use of Section 136 varies considerably. This study examines the use of Section 136 within a family of eight police forces that have been matched to ensure that they cover similar populations. The results show that there are considerable variations in the use of Section 136, with the Devon and Cornwall region using the section over two and a half times the mean for the group. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed.

Compulsory Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa: Compassion or Coercion?

1993 ◽  
Vol 162 (5) ◽  
pp. 679-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Tiller ◽  
Ulrike Schmidt ◽  
Janet Treasure
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Clinical Experience ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Compulsory Treatment ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
The Media ◽  
Court Of Appeal ◽  
Legal Opinion

Compulsory treatment for anorexia nervosa was recently once again a topic for discussion following the case of J, a 16-year-old girl who unsuccessfully applied to the Court of Appeal to refuse treatment for her anorexia nervosa. In this instance legal opinion was sought in order to clarify the Children Act 1989. However, much of the media coverage focused on the controversy surrounding the compulsory treatment of anorexia nervosa, under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983. There is a lack of research into the compulsory treatment of anorexia nervosa, so debate has to be informed by clinical experience.

scholarly journals Reforming the Mental Health Act 1983: ‘Joined Up Compulsion’

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Philip Fennell
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Mentally Disordered ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Risk Patients ◽  
The Government ◽  
Personality Disordered

<p>This article discusses the two volume White Paper <em>Reforming the Mental Health Act</em> issued by the Government in December 2000. The two volumes are separately titled <em>The New Legal Framework</em> and <em>High Risk Patients</em>. The foreword to the White Paper appears above the signatures of the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Milburn, and the Home Secretary, Jack Straw. This is heralded as an example of ‘joined up government’, and indeed one of the themes of the White Paper is the need for closer working between the psychiatric and criminal justice systems. The primary policy goal of the proposals is the management of the risk posed to other people by people with mental disorder, perhaps best exemplified in Volume One of the White Paper which proclaims that ‘Concerns of risk will always take precedence, but care and treatment should otherwise reflect the best interests of the patient.’ This is a clear reflection of the fact that the reforms are taking place against the background of a climate of concern about homicides by mentally disordered patients, whether mentally ill, learning disabled, or personality disordered.</p>

scholarly journals Workload implications of the proposed new Mental Health Act – an audit

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (02) ◽  
pp. 54-57
Author(s):  
Sean Whyte ◽  
Clive Meux
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Health Law ◽  
Forensic Patients ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
The Government ◽  
Time Required

Aims and Method To estimate specific time and resource implications for professionals, if proposed changes to the Mental Health Act 1983 (England &amp; Wales) in the Government's white paper were to be implemented unchanged. An audit of time spent on current procedures was extrapolated. Results The amount of time required to comply with the Act will rise substantially (by 27% overall). Social workers and independent doctors will spend 30% and 207% more time respectively, complying with the Act, but psychiatrists providing clinical care to forensic patients should be largely unaffected. Clinical Implications If the Government presses ahead with its plans for mental health law reform as currently proposed, extra resources will be required to provide additional social work and independent medical time – or other services for patients will suffer.

Feeding and Eating Disorders

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Devlin ◽  
Joanna E. Steinglass
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Eating Disorders ◽  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Bulimia Nervosa ◽  
Impulse Control ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Loss Of Control ◽  
Psychiatric Illnesses ◽  
Feeding And Eating Disorders

This chapter discusses feeding and eating disorders, which are characterized by disturbed eating behavior and excessive concern about body weight and shape. There is substantial comorbidity of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Many patients with bulimia nervosa have other mental health problems related to impulse control as well, such as substance use disorders. Patients with binge-eating disorder experience periods of consumption of objectively large amounts of food accompanied by a feeling of loss of control. Anorexia nervosa is one of the most lethal psychiatric illnesses, as it is associated with mortality rates as high as 5% per decade of illness.

scholarly journals Reform of the Mental Health Act 1983: the Green Paper

2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 126-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Zigmond
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Green Paper ◽  
Closing Date ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Department Of Health

The profession awaits the Government's White Paper on a new Mental Health Act (MHA) with trepidation. At the time of writing, the closing date for consultation on the Green Paper (Department of Health, 1999a) has passed. None the less, discussion and lobbying must continue.

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