scrutiny@parliament.uk
Memorandum from Mental Health Alliance
in West Yorkshire:
This is our formal response to the
Draft Bill.
1. The Mental Health Alliance in West
Yorkshire is a campaigning group made up of local service users
and carers, and of workers from the local Mental Health Trust,
Social Services and voluntary sector organisations.
2. We feel compelled to act to try
and prevent a damaging and unworkable Bill from passing into law.
We want to work positively to help to produce a piece of legislation
that is fit for the 21st century.
3. Opposition to the first draft bill
was widespread and united most stakeholders. We had hoped that
the 2nd draft would be more appropriate and that it
would have been informed by the nature and strength of opposition
to it and the responses which were made.
4. Whilst there have been some changes,
we still have serious concerns about the new draft and the likelihood
that it would alienate the very people whom it seeks to help and
support. This alienation will be extremely counterproductive.
5. We are particularly concerned about
the following aspects of the proposed legislation:-
6. The Bill will not achieve the right
balance of protecting the personal and human rights of people
with mental health problems, and concerns for public and personal
safety, due to the proposed use of compulsory treatment and powers
a. The bill extends the use of compulsion
in individual's homes and communities
b. Whilst we note that treatment will
not be forcibly administered in the community, individuals who
are not compliant face being removed to a treatment unit with
all the distress inherent in that experience.
c. This may well involve police officers
as well as mental health staff; it will be very visible and will
increase fear and stigmatisation in the community.
d. This is entirely contrary to the
agenda for social inclusion currently also being promoted by this
Government.
e. This aspect of the Bill will have
an extremely detrimental effect on the role of professionals and
the way they are perceived.
f. A number of our members know that
they will be reluctant to contact mental health services at all
because of the increased fear of intrusion and coercion which
they feel they may be subjected to if this draft legislation were
to become law.
g. Furthermore, the potential for staff
to feel that they are offering a therapeutic relationship is severely
compromised when they are 'policing compliance'
h. The power dynamics of these relationships
would be radically altered if this legislation were put in place
as currently proposed.
i. This means in turn that the Bill
will, in effect, be unworkable
j. It will also be extremely ineffective,
and even counterproductive, because many of the people who need
treatment and support will not seek it
k. We want to work with people in the
community to support their independence and to focus on recovery.
7. Our second key concern is around
the right to effective treatment and support for people who need
it.
a. We very much welcome the inclusion
of the right to independent advocacy
b. This right does not come early enough
in the process, which means that there is not adequate safeguard
for people prior to assessment
c. It is crucial that advocacy is genuinely
independent, and we are not convinced that enough resources will
be available to make this happen.
d. We note that while on the one hand
there will be compulsion on patients, there is no legal obligation
for authorities to provide treatment and support as agreed in
a care plan, which would be a major step forward
e. We greatly regret the absence from
the Draft Bill of advance directives, the use of which would be
an extremely important safeguard in how people are treated when
in crisis.
f. We note that in the Draft Bill it
will be possible for people to be given electro-convulsive therapy
(ECT) against their consent, 'in an emergency'. We believe that
ECT should never be given against consent.
8. We hope you will give serious consideration
to our concerns about this Bill. We would very much welcome
the opportunity to give oral evidence to the Committee.
9. Please note that one of our members,
Louise Relton, is enclosing her own personal statement with the
hard copy of this submission. This is not attached in the email
submission, for reasons of confidentiality.
Yours sincerely
Mental Health Alliance in West Yorkshire
Andy Atkins
Rachel Ball
Rhian Barnabas
Arthur Beels
Mike Bush
M Cocoran
Rob Cook
Winfreda Dube
Angela Dwyer
Gillian Eden
David Foster
Richard Freeman
Ian Fulton
Milan Ghosh
Tom Halloran
Abi Hancock
Martin Hird
Derek Hutchinson
Ethna Kilduff
Mikey Kyle
Sylvia Landells
Susan Moate
Malcolm Naylor
Rosemary Niskin
Jeremy Pritlove
Paul Raisbeck
Trevor Ramsey
Louise Relton
Bill Reynolds
Trevor Rhodes
Dorothea Simpson
Jean Singleton
Kathl Tebbutt
Maria Trainer
