Mental Health Bill receives Royal Assent

After a long wait, the new Mental Health Bill has finally received Royal Assent and has become law. This marks a significant milestone in mental health reform, bringing the most substantial changes to the Mental Health Act 1983 in decades.

However, the majority of the changes will not be brought into force immediately, and we await a start date for most of the provisions of the Act. The government has said that it is starting to develop the detailed guidance on the new Act before it comes into force.

What the new law means

The primary aims of the reforms are to strengthen the voice of patients subject to the Act, to add statutory weight to patients' rights to be involved in planning for their care and to inform choices regarding their treatment. The reforms are designed to ensure that detention under the Act is only used when, and for as long, as necessary, and to limit the use of the Act to detain people with learning disabilities and autism.

Key changes include

• Amended criteria for detention under sections 2 and 3 of the Act, to ensure that people can only be detained if they pose a risk of serious harm either to themselves or to others.
• Amendments to ensure that people with a learning disability and autistic people can no longer be detained for treatment under section 3, or placed on a community treatment order, unless they have a co-occurring psychiatric disorder that meets the detention criteria.
• Shortened detention periods under section 3, with the initial detention period reduced from six months to three months, the first renewal period also reduced from six months to three months, and the second renewal period reduced from one year to six months. Successive renewal periods will be for one year.
• Introduction of the new statutory role of "nominated person" to replace the role of "nearest relative", allowing patients to personally select someone to represent them and exercise the relevant statutory functions included within the Bill.
• Enhanced patient accessibility to the First-tier Tribunal (Mental Health), with automatic referrals made earlier and at more frequent intervals.
• Removal of prisons and police cells as "places of safety" under the Act.
• Amendments to treatment provisions, including a new best interests type checklist for treatment under Part 4 and changes to treatment certification under section 58. The definition of “appropriate medical treatment” has been amended, requiring consideration to be given as to whether there is a reasonable prospect of the treatment alleviating, or preventing the worsening of, the patient’s mental disorder or one or more of its symptoms or manifestations.
• Statutory care and treatment plans for all patients formally detained under the Act. Non-statutory advance choice documents, to record a person’s wishes, feelings and decisions about their care and treatment.
• A requirement for the Responsible Clinician to consult with another professional concerned with the patient’s treatment before discharge.

Please see our previous article on the key provisions of the new Mental Health Bill for further details. Our FAQs article on the Bill may also be of interest.

What happens next?

The government has said that full implementation of the Bill is expected to take around ten years – this timeframe is designed to allow services adequate time to train and recruit staff and to ensure funding is available to deliver the new provisions.

Drafting and consulting on the code of practice is now the government’s priority and is expected to take about a year. Secondary legislation will be developed alongside the code.

Preparing for the changes

Healthcare professionals should be aware that whilst the Act has now been passed, changes will be implemented gradually. We will continue to provide updates as implementation progresses and further guidance becomes available.

For more information about the reforms and how they may affect your practice, please contact our specialist mental health team.