3 November 2008
The Mental Health Foundation has today warned against the possible misuse of new powers of compulsory treatment for people with mental health problems, which come into effect today.
Under changes to mental health legislation, some patients discharged from hospital may be placed under a Community Treatment Order (CTO) that forces them to take their medication.
Simon Lawton-Smith, Head of Policy at the Foundation, said:
“There is no conclusive research* to suggest that CTOs help people with mental health problems to stay well anymore than good local services. It will be important to keep a very close eye on how these new powers are being used - they must not become the easy option or replace good mental health services that people want to use.”
“CTOs may help a small number of individuals with complex needs to stay well rather than lose touch with services and become ill again. But taking away anyone’s right to refuse treatment is questionable. No-one with a physical health problem is compelled to take their medication, even if not taking it might be life-threatening.”
“Many people, including some mental health professionals, have profound concerns about compelling people to take medication that can often have very unpleasant side effects and may be of limited effectiveness.”
Simon Lawton-Smith says that the benefits of compulsory treatment are not proven:
“Sadly, the introduction of these new powers has been driven by concerns about the threat some people with mental health problems may pose to members of the public if they become unwell. However, the general risk to the public is grossly over exaggerated.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For further information, please contact the press office team on 020 7803 1128 (or 07967 586489 out of hours). We are happy to take media enquiries over the weekend.
The Mental Health Foundation uses research and practical projects to help people survive, recover from and prevent mental health problems. We work to influence policy, including government at the highest levels. And we use our knowledge to raise awareness and to help tackle the stigma attached to mental illness. We reach millions of people every year through our media work, information booklets and online services.
Powers of Supervised Community Treatment (SCT), implemented via Community Treatment Orders (CTOs), are set out in the Mental Health Act 2007, and come into effect on 3 November 2008. Each CTO will contain specific conditions that a patient must comply with. The chief purpose of SCT is to allow non-compliant patients living in the community to be treated without their consent at an early stage of relapse, rather than wait until they become severely ill again and have to be readmitted to hospital under the Act (the ‘revolving door’ syndrome).
The Act contains a power to convey a non-compliant CTO patient to hospital and hold them there for up to 72 hours for the purpose of treating them, in effect as an out-patient. If they do not comply with treatment in that time, the CTO may be revoked and the patient would revert to detained status. However the new SCT powers do not allow patients to be forcibly compelled to take treatment in a community setting - the ‘injection over a kitchen table’ scenario.
SCT may only be authorised for a patient already detained in hospital for treatment under the Act - it cannot be used for patients admitted to hospital only for assessment, or for patients under a restriction order. CTOs are authorised for six month period, and then may be renewed for a further six months and then annually if considered necessary. A patient under a CTO may appeal against the imposition of SCT to a Tribunal in the same way as a patient detained in hospital, but cannot appeal to a Tribunal against the conditions set out in their CTO.
The Mental Health Act also makes a number of other changes to mental health legislation, including expanding the responsibilities of professionals under the Act to a wider group of professions, introducing a statutory right for patients subject to the Act to seek advocacy support, and changes to the definition of “mental disorder”.
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