Consultation outcome: Reforming the Mental Health Act

Tuesday, 24 August 2021 13:30

Reforming the Mental Health Act: government response Detail of outcome The government hosted a public consultation from 13 January 2021 to 21 April 2021 on a set of proposals to reform the Mental Health Act. We received over 1,700 responses. This report is the government’s formal response to this consultation. Further details on the impact of costs and...Request free trial

Reforming the Mental Health Act: government response

Detail of outcome

The government hosted a public consultation from 13 January 2021 to 21 April 2021 on a set of proposals to reform the Mental Health Act.

We received over 1,700 responses. This report is the government’s formal response to this consultation.

Further details on the impact of costs and benefits can be found in the impact assessment.

The Welsh response is currently being translated and will be uploaded as soon as possible.

See the easy read version.

Original consultation

Summary

We want your views on changes to the Mental Health Act to help put patients at the centre of decisions about their own care.

This consultation ran from
9:30am on 13 January 2020 to 11:59pm on 21 April 2021

Consultation description

In 2017 the government asked for an independent review of the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA), to look at how it’s used and to suggest ways to improve it.

The review’s final report said that the MHA does not always work as well as it should for patients, their families and their carers.

We’re now proposing a wide range of changes to rebalance the MHA, to put patients at the centre of decisions about their own care and ensure everyone is treated equally.

The changes are based on 4 principles that have been developed with people with lived experience of the MHA. They are:

choice and autonomy – ensuring service users’ views and choices are respected
least restriction – ensuring the MHA’s powers are used in the least restrictive way
therapeutic benefit – ensuring patients are supported to get better, so they can be discharged from the MHA
the person as an individual – ensuring patients are viewed and treated as individuals