In October 2017, the Government announced that there was to be a review of the Mental Health Act and an independent team was assembled, chaired by Sir Simon Wessely; Professor of Psychiatry at King’s College London and president of the Royal Society of Medicine.
You can review the findings here >>
The review was set up to look at how the Mental Health Act is being used and how practice can improve. The purpose of the review is to understand the reasons for:
- Rising rates of detention under the Act
- The disproportionate number of people from black and minority ethnic groups detained under the Act
- Processes that are out of step with a modern mental health care system
The review has sought the views of service users, carers, relevant professionals, and affected organisations in producing recommendations. It will produce a report with those recommendations for change in December 2018.
For more information about the review please click here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/independent-review-of-the-mental-health-act#purpose-of-the-review