Setting up Psychiatric Liaison Schemes to Magistrates' Courts: Problems and Practicalities

1992 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
D V James ◽  
L W Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Catchment Area ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Home Office ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
The Future

Guidelines are set out to aid those wishing to establish psychiatric liaison services to magistrates' courts, as recommended by the Home Office. The account is based upon 20 months' experience of running such a scheme at Clerkenwell magistrates' court in inner London. The practical problems in initiating such a service are explored together with difficulties likely to be encountered in its running. These include questions of personnel, interviewing facilities, relations with other disciplines, legal issues concerning the Mental Health Act and problems encountered in negotiating with catchment area services. Suggestions are given as to how difficulties may be overcome. The future of liaison schemes to magistrates' courts is discussed.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Ian Cummins
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Hostile Environment ◽  
Home Office ◽  
The Real ◽  
Senior Member ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Theresa May

When Theresa May became Prime Minister in July 2016, she made a speech on the steps of Downing Street in which she outlined a series of ‘burning injustices’ her administration would seek to tackle. Many were struck by the irony of this commitment to tackling inequality and disadvantages coming, as it did, from a senior member of the coalition and Conservative governments that since 2010 had introduced a series of policies which had targeted those living in poverty and the most vulnerable. The scandals of the revelation of the real impact of the ‘hostile environment’ created by May’s Home Office and the appalling treatment of the Windrush generation lay ahead. In May 2017, May announced that a review would be undertaken of the ‘flawed’ Mental Health Act (MHA). In making the announcement she stated:...

scholarly journals A new appraisal of Mental Health Review Tribunals

1989 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 299-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. T. Grounds
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Home Office ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Right ◽  
Prime Function ◽  
Health Review

Mental Health Review Tribunals were introduced in the Mental Health Act (1959) to safeguard psychiatric patients against unjustified detention in hospital. The powers of tribunals form “an important part of the fabric of civil liberties” (Wood, 1974). However, in exercising their prime function of preventing unjust detention, tribunals in practice also have to take into account patients' clinical needs and the protection of the public. Further weight was added to this complex burden of decision making following a judgement by the European Court of Human Rights in 1981 which upheld the right of all detained patients to a periodic judicial review of their detention. As a result of this judgement the Mental Health Act (1983) extended tribunal powers to include the release of offender patients sentenced by Crown courts and given hospital orders with restrictions on discharge. Such individuals may have been convicted of grave criminal offences, and their discharge or transfer from hospital would otherwise require the consent of the Home Office.

scholarly journals Changing patterns in the use of the Mental Health Act 1983 in England, 1984–1996

2000 ◽  
Vol 176 (5) ◽  
pp. 479-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Hotopf ◽  
Sharon Wall ◽  
Alec Buchanan ◽  
Simon Wessely ◽  
Rachel Churchill
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Psychiatric Hospitals ◽  
Home Office ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Prison Populations ◽  
Psychiatric Beds ◽  
Near Future

BackgroundThe Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) is due to be revised by Parliament in the near future.AimsTo explore changes in the use of the Act since its introduction.MethodThe Department of Health and the Home Office routinely collect data on the numbers of patients admitted to psychiatric hospitals under the MHA. We present absolute figures, by year, for the total numbers admitted under each section of the Act. We used the total psychiatric hospital admissions and total prison populations as denominator data.ResultsFormal admissions rose from 16 044 in 1984 to 26 308 in 1996, a 63% increase. Admissions under the MHA have increased as a proportion of all admissions. The increase is mainly accounted for by changes in the use of Part II of the Act, in particular sections 2 and 3. The use of forensic sections (Part III) has also increased, with a marked increase of sections 47 and 48. Use of Part X of the Act (sections 135 and 136) declined in the late 1980s but rose again in the 1990s.ConclusionsFormal admissions are more common than they were in 1984, despite there being fewer psychiatric beds. This is probably due to changes in the provision of psychiatric services, and changing societal pressures on psychiatrists away from libertarianism and towards coercion.

A Review of Compulsory Admissions to a Psychiatric Unit in Sydney

1981 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Snowdon
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Catchment Area ◽  
Total Population ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Main Criterion ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
South Wales ◽  
One Year

This study is concerned with compulsory admissions of patients from a defined catchment area of Sydney in 1979. The rate of such detentions under the present Mental Health Act in New South Wales was found to be about one per 1000 of the total population in one year. A much smaller proportion of psychotic than of non-psychotic patients was considered dangerous by doctors who signed the schedules, yet those (40%) requiring to be on compulsory orders after magisterial hearings were all diagnosed as psychotic. If dangerousness were to be the main criterion for compulsory detention under the Mental Health Act (as recently proposed), many psychotic patients could not legally be detained. Yet follow-up, as in this study, demonstrates the benefits of such admissions. Revision of proposed amendments is recommended.

scholarly journals More than just the mental health act – foundation-specific teaching to inspire psychiatrists

BJPsych Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (S1) ◽  
pp. S139-S140
Author(s):  
Robert Heminway ◽  
Lauren Fitzmaurice ◽  
Hamid Alhaj ◽  
Edward Fearnley
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mission Statement ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
Psychiatric Training ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Good Opportunity ◽  
Teaching Programme ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
The Future ◽  
Specific Teaching

AimsThis project aimed to further develop a teaching programme for Foundation Doctors attached to a psychiatry rotation. The purpose was threefold – to educate foundation doctors about important psychiatric topics; to encourage them to think about wider impacts of psychiatry; and to inspire them to consider psychiatric training in the longer term.BackgroundThe Royal College of Psychiatrists’ mission statement includes actively promoting psychiatry as a career and improving knowledge of mental health, including its interactions with people's physical and social backgrounds. Targeting foundation doctors rotating into psychiatry posts is a good opportunity to achieve these objectives, as they will be the cross-speciality doctors of the future, and have specific learning needs given their unique rotations and new medical careers.MethodOn one Wednesday morning per month Foundation Doctors had a specific teaching session for them. The sessions consisted of four 30-minute teaching blocks which, crucially, were given by foundation doctors. They were facilitated by a core psychiatry trainee, and the topics were decided by the doctor teaching each 30-minute block. The foundation doctors were able teach on any topic related to psychiatry that interested them. Feedback forms were developed and provided at the end of each session for the foundation doctors, as well as at the end of each recent foundation rotation, to get feedback on the overall quality of the course delivered.ResultThe programme has now had 6 complete cohorts of foundation doctors. We have built a varied topic bank from past sessions, including the Mental Health Act, dementia, the Mind-Body Problem, psychiatry in video games and sociology of psychiatric illness, amongst other topics. All foundation doctors questioned have agreed or strongly agreed that the sessions were helpful for their psychiatric rotation and general medical training. Particularly praised aspects were the ability to discuss psychiatric topics that weren't normally discussed in an academic environment, being able to take ownership over learning and practicing giving teaching. Vitally, core trainee facilitators also found the sessions inspiring for their training.ConclusionThe Foundation Teaching Programme has increased doctors’ knowledge of a range of psychiatric topics, the breadth of which and agency in choosing topics has increased engagement with psychiatry, regardless of planned medical training speciality. Areas to explore in the future include potentially opening attendance to medical students and physician associate students, and to other regions of the deanery. Evaluating the long-term impact of this training is also warranted.

scholarly journals Section 136 agreements in a regional health authority

1994 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinus P. Klijnsma ◽  
Annie E.A. Bartlett ◽  
Andrea Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Clinical Data ◽  
Health Authority ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Regional Health ◽  
Home Office ◽  
Code Of Practice ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Frequency Of Use

The limited previous research on usage of section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) has either confined itself to description of socio-demographic and clinical data (Dunn ft Fahy, 1990) or considered procedural issues solely in urban areas (Rogers ft Faulkner, 1987). This is despite the repeated concern of the Mental Health Act Commission (1991), which has noted more widespread difficulties in the use of section 136, highlighting individual failures by local services to adhere to the Code of Practice MHA (Department of Health and Welsh Office, 1990). This study attempts a region-wide survey of section 136 agreements and the corresponding frequency of use of the procedures. This is in line with the Reed Committee recommendations (Department of Health/Home Office, 1992), which prioritised early diversion from custody as an area of research, and emphasised the desirability of multi-agency section 136 agreements.

scholarly journals Guardianship – a case for wider use

1993 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 276-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Symonds
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Community Care ◽  
Community Treatment ◽  
Care Programme ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
The Future ◽  
Treatment Order ◽  
Community Treatment Order

Few psychiatrists have had much experience of guardianship (Section 7, Mental Health Act, 1983). The two cases described have been successful and suggest wider use of this section. It seems apposite in view of the Royal College of Psychiatrists' advice on discharge of patients from hospital, and discussion on a community treatment order; the continuing drive to community care, as codified in the ‘Care Programme Approach’; and the need in the future to treat increasingly disturbed individuals in the community as envisaged in the Reed report.

The Observation Ward and the Psychiatric Emergency

1965 ◽  
Vol 111 (470) ◽  
pp. 18-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. P. Snaith ◽  
S. Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Psychiatric Emergency ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
The Future ◽  
Special Provision

In 1937 an excellent investigation, by Pentreath and Dax, of the work of a London observation ward appeared in the Journal of Mental Science. In the course of their conclusions, they pointed out that: “observation wards are still in their infancy so far as their developmental possibilities are concerned—in fact, we are still in the process of deciding what their purpose should be.” In the ferment of ideas that culminated in the Mental Health Act of 1959, and the fresh insights into administrative psychiatry which have followed, the future function of such units seems to have received little attention. Freeman and Farndale's book Trends in the Mental Health Services (1963) does not introduce the concept of the psychiatric emergency, nor does it consider any special provision for these patients.

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