Mental Health - September 2009

News in brief

High security – Consultation on new directions

The Department of Health is consulting on new safety and security directions for the high secure psychiatric services provided at Ashworth, Broadmoor and Rampton Hospitals. The closing date for responses is 2 November 2009 and more information may be found here.

Access to CAMHS – New guidance

Two government departments have published guidance on how the new, 18 week referral-to-treatment standard might be achieved. The standard was included in the NHS Operating Framework for 2009/10, and the joint Department of Health and Department for Children, Schools and Families guidance will apply to non-emergency, consultant-led CAMHS services and pathways. It may be found here.

Criminal Justice

The Sainsbury Centre has recently published two briefing papers that between them look at the present and future of mental health care in the criminal justice system. The first paper is a response to the recent Bradley Report, which among other things called for nationwide coverage of specialist teams to divert people with mental health problems to treatment and support at any stage of the criminal justice system. The Sainsbury Centre supports this call and says that creating those teams should be a priority for the NHS and the National Offender Management Service. Sainsbury also supports Lord Bradley's call for a 14 day maximum wait to transfer people needing urgent care from prison to hospital, but it warns that secure hospitals already hold record numbers of people and that better step-down care is vital to stop beds from being blocked. The briefing paper may be found here.

In its second briefing paper, which is an update of an earlier document, the Sainsbury Centre says that the quality of mental health care available in our prisons is frequently poor, and it makes recommendations for improvements. The briefing paper may be found here.

Homicides by the mentally ill

The number of people killed by individuals suffering from mental illness in England and Wales increased between 1997 and 2005, researchers at the University of Manchester have found.  Other findings in the annual report by the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness (NCI) include a fall in suicide by mental health patients overall and a continued fall in suicide by in-patients. The Director of the NCI, Professor Louis Appleby, has, however, warned that it is important to keep these findings in perspective. The rise did not occur in current mental health patients, he said, and, “The risk of being a victim of homicide in England and Wales is around 1 in 1,000 and the risk of being killed by someone with schizophrenia is around 1 in 20,000.” The NCI report may be found at www.manchester.ac.uk/nci

Approved clinician changes

The directions that specify who may, and who may not, be an Approved Clinician have been amended to reflect changes to the statutory regulation of psychologists. Now, in order to be an Approved Clinician, a psychologist must be registered with the Health Professions Council. More information may be found here.

Flu pandemic: government plans to amend the Mental Health Act

The government could suspend some parts of the Mental Health Act if a flu pandemic causes severe staff shortages. A consultation document published this month suggests that the number of medical recommendations might temporarily be reduced, time limits be extended and additional people be approved to undertake statutory functions. The consultation is open until 7 October 2009 and the document is available here.