Mental Health Proposals Set Out

The Government will publish controversial plans regarding the treatment of people with mental health problems. The Mental Health Bill was scrapped in March amid protests about its content but is now being reintroduced in an amended form.

It comes a day after a damning report found that the murder of a man by a paranoid schizophrenic with a known history of violence could have been avoided.

That inquiry, into John Barrett’s care, found that he should never have been given an hour’s leave from a secure unit in 2004, which allowed him to abscond and kill Denis Finnegan in London’s Richmond Park.

The amended Bill sets out plans for supervised orders, which mean people discharged from compulsory treatment in hospital will be required to continue treatment while they are in the community.

Under current legislation, doctors who witness patients refusing to accept treatment have to go through several channels to get them readmitted.

But now, patients who refuse to take their drugs or accept care could see themselves forcibly sectioned within hours. The aim is to stop “revolving door” patients who are sectioned, released and then detained again for refusing treatment.

But the plan has met with opposition from mental health campaigners, who say it leaves patients with few or no rights and may lead to those with mild conditions being locked up.

The Government also intends to use the Bill to close a loophole where patients can only be sectioned if their condition is deemed treatable.

That desire to change the law was driven by Michael Stone’s conviction in 1998 of the murders of Lin and Megan Russell.