Monitoring the Mental Health Act in 2012/13; presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to section 120D(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983

Authors:
CARE QUALITY COMMISSION, GREAT BRITAIN. Department of Health
Publisher:
Care Quality Commission
Publication year:
2013
Pagination:
94
Place of publication:
Newcastle upon Tyne

This is the fourth annual report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on its monitoring of the use of the Mental Health Act 1983. It collates findings of CQC’s specialist MHA visits, the concerns of people who use services and of professional stakeholders, and policy issues relevant to psychiatric detention in England. In 2012/13 people were detained or treated under the MHA more than 50,000 times; and community treatment orders were imposed more than 4,600 times. The total number of people who are subject to the MHA has risen by 12% in the last five years, with 17,000 people detained at the end of 2012/13. The report considers the extent to which mental health services are responsive to people’s needs; ways in which people are subject to restrictions; issues around consent to treatment; access to care during mental health crisis; and deaths of patients subject to the Act. While there is welcome for improvements in access to independent advocacy services, in helping people to draw up advance statements of preferences for care and treatment, the report notes that 27% of care plans showed no evidence of patient involvement. CQC expects there to be change in respect of promoting dignity and autonomy; promoting cultures that support therapeutic practices and reduce restraint and seclusion to a minimum; and being proactive in embedding learning from the deaths of people subject to the Act. (Edited publisher abstract)

Subject terms:
mental health problems, mental health services, NHS, quality assurance, regulation, standards;
Location(s):
England
Link:
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