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Newly introduced deprivation of liberty safeguards: anomalies and concerns
- Authors:
- SHAH Ajit, HEGINBOTHAM Chris
- Journal article citation:
- Psychiatrist (The), 34(6), June 2010, pp.243-245.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
This article raises concerns over irregularities within the newly introduced deprivation of liberty safeguards. The European Court of Human Rights found that the care and treatment of HL in the ‘Bournewood case’ constituted infringement, in the form of deprivation of liberty, of his rights under Articles 5 (1) and 5 (4) of the European Convention on Human Rights. To prevent the infringement, the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were introduced into the Mental Capacity Act 2005 via the Mental Health Act 2007. The recent implementation of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards on 1 April 2009 has highlighted some difficulties in its implementation and application, and these are described in this article. It concludes that many such issues may only be resolved with emerging case law.
Meeting the mental health needs of older people from black and minority ethnic communities
- Authors:
- SHAH Ajit, ADELMAN Simon
- Journal article citation:
- Mental Health Today, November 2009, pp.25-29.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
The proportion of people from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups over the age of 65 has progressively increased over the last three decades in England and Wales, and now stands at 8.2 per cent. This article describes the inequality in access to mental health care in older people from BME groups and potential ways forward under the sub-headings: scale of the problem; inequality in mental health care; barriers to receiving appropriate care; recognising and tackling suicide risk; policy context; finding a way forward; and beyond psychiatry
The early experience of consultant psychiatrists in application of the Mental Capacity Act: issues for black and minority individuals
- Authors:
- SHAH Ajit, et al
- Journal article citation:
- Ethnicity and Inequalities in Health and Social Care, 2(2), July 2009, pp.4-10.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) was fully implemented in October 2007 in England and Wales. This article reports on two similar, but separate, pilot questionnaire studies that examined the experience of consultants in old age psychiatry and consultants in other psychiatric specialities in the early implementation of the MCA pertaining to issues relevant to black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. Fifty-two (27%) of the 196 consultants in old age psychiatry and 113 (12%) of the 955 consultants in other psychiatric specialities returned useable questionnaires. Eighty per cent or more of the consultants in old age psychiatry and consultants in other psychiatric specialities gave consideration to religion and culture and ethnicity in the assessment of decision-making capacity (DMC). Almost 50% of the consultants in old age psychiatry reported that half or more of the patients lacking fluency in English or where English was not their first language received an assessment of DMC with the aid of an interpreter and 40% of the consultants in other psychiatric specialities reported that no such patients received an assessment of DMC with the aid of an interpreter. The low rate of using interpreters is of concern. The nature of the consideration and implementation of factors relevant to culture, ethnicity and religion in the application of the MCA and the precise reasons for the low rate of using interpreters in patients lacking fluency in English or English not being their first language require clarification in further studies.