scholarly journals Time to amend Section 135

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 640-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Cutajar ◽  
Michele Hampson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Living Alone ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Justice Of The Peace

Section 135 of the Mental Health Act (1983) allows a Justice of the Peace, on information provided on oath by an approved social worker, to issue a warrant allowing any constable named in the warrant to enter, if need be by force, any premises in which there is reasonable cause to suspect that a person believed to be suffering from a mental disorder: (a)has been, or is being, ill-treated, neglected or kept otherwise than under proper control: or(b)being unable to care for himself, is living alone in any such place, and, if thought fit, to remove him to a place of safety.

New World of Mental Health Legislation England and Wales David Jolley and Reinhard Heun

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
D. Jolley ◽  
R. Heun
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Community Treatment ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Mental Health Legislation ◽  
Health Legislation

After eight years of tortured negotiations between government, professional psychiatrists and lay pressure groups, England and Wales will begin to use new Mental Health Legislation November 2008. This will not be a new Mental Health Act, but a substantial modification of the 1983 act. There are nine key changes:1.A single definition of mental disorder: ‘any disorder of mind or brain’.2.Criteria for compulsion: ‘appropriate medical treatment’ test.3.Age-appropriate services: special arrangements for under 18 years.4.Professional roles: approved clinicians and responsible clinicians (non-medical).5.Nearest relative: recognises Civil Partnerships, allows displacement.6.Supervised Community Treatment Orders.7.Mental health Review Tribunal: unified.8.Advocacy: Independent Mental Health Advocates.9.ECT: new safeguards.The Code of Practice identifies five key principles:1.Purpose - to minimise adverse effects of Mental Disorder.2.Least Restriction.3.Respect - diverse needs, values and circumstances.4.Participation - involving patient in planning, developing and reviewing treatment and care.5.Effectiveness, efficiency and equity - optimal use of resources.Earlier drafts had been described as: ‘little more than a Public Oder Bill dressed up as Mental Health legislation’; ‘ethically unworkable and practically unworkable’. Much of the dissent related to suggestions that people with Personality Disorder behaving in a dangerous or antisocial way should be subject to compulsory detention. Fears included breach of liberties and Human Rights and transformation of Mental Health Services disadvantaging people with major mental illnesses.

A Mental Health Unit for the Deaf. The Spanish Experience

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
J. Muñoz ◽  
A. Garcia ◽  
F. Ferre
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
General Hospital ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Health Unit ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Mental Health Unit

In 2002 the first spanish mental health unit for the Deaf was set up at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid.From this moment that unit has seen more than 400 profoundly deaf patients which means more than 6500 consultations.Only 3 professionals works in the unit. a psychologist, a social worker and a part time psychiatrist.We have 3 principal goals in our presentation:1.First: Present the results of the unit. Number and kind of patients, disorders and treatments.2.Second: Explain how difficult is to set up this kind of spcialized units in a big general hospital.3.Third: Prsent our plans to improve our unit in the short term.

scholarly journals General practitioners' referrals for compulsory admission under the Mental Health Act, II: the process of assessment

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 139-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sheppard
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Emergency Admission ◽  
Compulsory Admission ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Process And Outcome ◽  
The Law ◽  
Medical Recommendations

This is the second of two articles on GP referrals for compulsory admission, and seeks to examine the process and outcome of assessment by (a) comparing GP with other section assessment referrals and (b) comparing GP referrals who were compulsorily admitted to hospital with those not compulsorily admitted or voluntarily admitted. In relation to the law the main relevant sections for this article are sections 2, 3 and 4. There are two basic grounds for admission: that the patient is suffering from a mental disorder and that admission is in the interests of his/her own health or safety or for the protection of others. Section 4 requires one and sections 2 and 3, two medical recommendations, as well as an application by an approved social worker (ASW) or nearest relative. Section 2, admission for assessment, involves admission for up to 28 days; section 4, emergency admission for assessment, involves admission for up to 72 hours; and section 3, admission for treatment, allows admission for up to six months, and is renewable.

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.

scholarly journals The case for removing intellectual disability and autism from the Mental Health Act

2019 ◽  
Vol 215 (5) ◽  
pp. 633-635
Author(s):  
Sheila Hollins ◽  
Keri-Michèle Lodge ◽  
Paul Lomax
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Intellectual Disability ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Learning Disability ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Serious Mental Illnesses

SummaryIntellectual disability (also known as learning disability in UK health services) and autism are distinct from the serious mental illnesses for which the Mental Health Act is designed to be used. Their inclusion in the definition of mental disorder is discriminatory, resulting in unjust deprivations of liberty. Intellectual disability and autism should be excluded from the Mental Health Act.Declaration of interestNone.

scholarly journals Definitions and criteria: the 2007 amendments to the Mental Health Act 1983

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Branton ◽  
Guy Brookes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Medical Treatment ◽  
Psychological Treatment ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Code Of Practice ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Sexual Deviancy ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Mental Capacity Act

SummaryThis article deals with the provisions for the lawful detention and compulsory treatment of patients in England and Wales. The 2007 amendments to the Mental Health Act 1983 redefine ‘mental disorder’ and ‘medical treatment’ and remove the classifications required for longer-term detention, abolishing the so-called ‘treatability test’ and introducing a new appropriate-treatment test. ‘Learning disability’ is brought within the definition of mental disorder but only if ‘associated with abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct’. The exclusion for promiscuity, other immoral conduct or sexual deviancy is repealed; the exclusion for dependence on alcohol and drugs is retained. The revised definition of ‘medical treatment’ includes psychological treatment and removes the requirement that treatment is under medical supervision. The basic structure of the 1983 Act is retained. Use of the powers is discretionary. The principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 are imported into the decision-making framework through the wording of the Mental Health ActCode of Practice.

scholarly journals Evaluating mental health services. A world perspective

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (S1) ◽  
pp. 239-245
Author(s):  
Norman Sartorius
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
World Wide ◽  
List Type ◽  
Type Number ◽  
Evaluative Research ◽  
World Perspective

Evaluations of mental health services are much in demand. Their results are supposed to help in improving the quality of mental health care and in making them economically better viable.Yet, world-wide there is: 1)little agreement about the content of terms such as evaluation, mental health service, outcome of an activity although these and other terms are widely used;2)uncertainty about the best use of results of evaluative research;3)lack of consensus about who should evaluate what and by what method.

scholarly journals The new Mental Disorder Tribunal

2014 ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Mark Mullins
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Green Paper ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Expert Committee ◽  
Committee Report ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
The Government

<p>In its final report the Expert Committee on reform of the Mental Health Act 1983 chaired by Professor Genevra Richardson proposed a new Mental Disorder Tribunal. This tribunal would have fundamentally different functions, composition, procedure and powers to the present Mental Health Review Tribunals (MHRTs). The Committee’s objective was not merely to repair the failings of the present MHRT system but to replace it with a new structure promoting the principles of patient autonomy and non-discrimination. Reading the Committee report and the Government’s Green Paper proposals in response together it soon becomes clear that the Government has rejected the recommendation that the new mental health law should be based on principles of autonomy and nondiscrimination. In their place the Green Paper puts “safety” and “risk”. While it will incorporate safeguards to ensure compliance with the Human Rights Act 1998, the “dual aims” of the new Mental Health Act are to be to ensure the health and safety of patients and safety of the public. Whereas the Committee saw the new tribunal as an active guarantor and promoter of individual rights the Green Paper recasts it as a body preoccupied with risk and safety, stating as a fundamental “principle” that: “Issues relating to the safety of the individual patient and of the public are of key importance in determining the question of whether compulsory powers should be imposed”</p>

scholarly journals Consent to Treatment: Legal and Ethical Aspects

1981 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 207-209
Author(s):  
Paul Bowden
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Medical Officer ◽  
Working Party ◽  
Ethical Aspects ◽  
Mental Health Act ◽  
Consent To Treatment ◽  
Patient’S Will ◽  
Policy Committee

In anticipating the consultative paper A Review of the Mental Health Act, 1959 the College's Public Policy Committee prepared a report in 1974 (News and Notes, October, November 1974). The second of six points covered in the report related to compulsory detention and treatment. It reads:The Working Party are firmly of the view that compulsory powers should include the power to treat patients compulsorily for any form of mental disorder, but has doubts as to how far certain types of treatment should be applied on the sole authority of the Responsible Medical Officer against the patient's will or when he is incapable of giving consent.

scholarly journals Section 136 and the Police

1987 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 224-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dunn ◽  
Thomas Fahy
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Psychiatric Training ◽  
Public Place ◽  
Mentally Disordered ◽  
Police Station ◽  
Mental Health Act

Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 is a controversial section. It authorises a police constable, often with no psychiatric training, to take a mentally disordered person from a public place to a place of safety, usually a hospital or a police station, so that he or she may be assessed by a doctor and a social worker within a 72 hour period. There have been several studies looking at this section from the point of view of psychiatrists, social workers, and other interested parties, in particular MIND. The aim of this study was to find out from the police whether or not problems arose during their dealings with people whom they had placed on section 136.

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