Mental Health - January 2010
This is the second edition of Weightmans’ mental health
newsletter, and you are very welcome to it.
The reception for the first edition was
extremely gratifying, with many readers commending its clarity and
concision. That’s just what we’re after, and I hope we have
achieved it again here.
Changing status is one of the themes of this
edition, and in particular, what happens to a tribunal application
when a patient is suddenly subject to a different section. Georgina
Rowley considers the problem from the perspective of a patient
whose restrictions fall away, and I do the same for patients
transferred onto SCT.
Community compulsion continues to cause
controversy, and real problems, so another of our articles is
particularly apposite. It looks at the latest MHA statistics which
suggest that SCT is being used disproportionately at the expense of
men. And those same statistics suggest something else that is
worrying: the section 136 ‘place of safety’ power is being used to
deal not just with mental disorder, but also with public
disorder. I’ve had a look at that, too.
Liberty is also one of our themes (as it tends
to be most of the time now). Catriona Sangster provides a
commentary on the two latest DoLS cases (one of which involved
Weightmans again) while another article of mine considers whether,
Munjaz notwithstanding, mental health patients retain some measure
of freedom even after they have been detained in hospital.
We haven’t neglected litigation either, for
another article explains why permission for Mental Health Act
proceedings might now be harder to get. We also have Kiran Bhogal’s
expert distillation of the government’s recent New
Horizons document, which is presented as the next stage of
national mental health policy. And this issue concludes with a note
on a report concerning IMCA activity that offers some misleading
conclusions about adult protection work.
Please do continue to let me know what you
think about this newsletter and the issues it covers, or that you
think it should cover. You can find me at david.hewitt@weightmans.com
The next edition of Weightmans’ mental health
newsletter will be published in the spring.
David Hewitt, Partner
Featured articles
Restricted practices
A restricted patient might have to make a
fresh application to the tribunal when his restrictions fall away.
Georgina Rowley considers a wealth of
recent, and not-so-recent, cases.
Developing the DoLS
The courts continue to
develop the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, but as Catriona
Sangster explains, they sometimes take an unexpected approach to
the task.
Number crunching
They’re neither lies nor damned lies.
In fact, as David Hewitt writes, the new
Mental Health Act statistics reveal some interesting, if
inconvenient truths.
Is something going on with public place detentions?
The Mental Health Act allows you to be
arrested in a public place, but only if you’re suffering from
mental disorder. David Hewitt wonders
whether that important caveat has been forgotten.
Harder to get?
Some mental health
claims will now be easier to defend, reports David Hewitt, and
correspondingly harder to bring.
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
So sang Bob Dylan, but is that always the
case? David Hewitt asks whether it is
possible that someone in detention retains a measure of freedom,
even after his liberty has been taken away.
Missed tribunals
Some mental health patients
might have missed out on tribunal hearings they were entitled
to.
Some mental health hospitals are failing in their statutory
duties
A new survey suggests
that when they are admitted to hospital, many people with mental
illness are being denied their rights.
MCA advocacy: the second year
The Department of
Health has just reported on the second year of Independent Mental
Capacity Act activity.
New Horizons
The government’s new
initiative sets out to achieve a great deal, writes Kiran Bhogal,
but it just might work.
Weightmans specialists
Click here for
details of the Weightmans specialists who can provide clear,
concise advice, both on the Mental Health Act and on much more
besides.