Mental health bill 'concessions'

The bill calls for people with severe personality disorders to be held

Ministers have made some concessions to campaigners over the planned changes to mental heath laws.

Health Minister Rosie Winterton has set a two-year target to ensure children are no longer treated in adult wards.

She has also said doctors will be given tight rules over the use of orders to force patients to take medicine and place them under detention if required.

Campaigners said the moves were welcome, but they still had some concerns.

The bill, which amends the 1983 Act, has been designed to introduce powers in England and Wales to detain people with serious personality disorders even if they have not committed a crime.

We are especially concerned that too many people will be liable to be put on community treatment orders Andy Bell, of the Mental Health Alliance

The shake-up in the law has been driven by Michael Stone's 1998 conviction for the brutal murders of Lin and Megan Russell.

Stone was regarded as a dangerous psychopath and it has been assumed he was not held under mental health powers because his condition was considered untreatable.

However, a subsequent inquiry has found this not to be the case as he was receiving treatment but gaps in his care meant he was not given the correct care.

Concern had been raised that the bill would allow patients under 18 to be held in adult wards.

The government has now said the bill will contain a clause saying they will be required to be treated in "age-appropriate settings".

People detained under the mental health laws will also be given access to advocacy services to champion their rights.

And the victims of mental health offenders will be given the chance to make representations over their proposed release.

Ministers have also made concessions over the most sensitive aspect of the bill - community treatment orders.

Doctors will be told they can only impose the orders if they are aimed at preventing harm to the individual's health or safety or protecting the public.

But this does not go as far as some had wanted. The House of Lords had called for enforced treatment to be used only if it was likely to alleviate a condition or stop it getting worse.

Incurable

Ms Winterton had argued that this would hardly change the situation at the moment where people with severe personality disorders are unable to access treatment because doctors feel they are incurable.

She said the move - the latest in an eight-year battle to change the law and after a string of defeats in the Lords - "strikes the right balance between patient safeguards and public safety".

And Prime Minister Tony Blair added the government has a "duty to protect the public" as there were about 50 killings a year by people who were under the care of mental health services.

Shadow Health Minister Tim Loughton said the Conservatives welcomed the bill, but that there were still areas where it "remains stigmatising and could be counterproductive to the welfare of patients and the safety of the public.

"Conservatives will continue to press for greater definitions of the use of community treatment orders which should only be used in limited situations."

Charities also expressed unease with some aspects of the bill.

"There remain some very serious concerns about the bill. We are especially concerned that too many people will be liable to be put on community treatment orders," said Andy Bell, chairman of the Mental Health Alliance, an umbrella group of patients, charities and health professionals.

Youngminds said it was worried by the fact that those under-18s who are admitted voluntarily will not get an automatic right to advocacy.

"Having come so far to address the needs of vulnerable children the government must not fall at this final hurdle," said spokesperson, Kathryn Pugh.