Detained psychiatric patients have no protection under mental health code of practice, campaigners warn

October 17, 2005
by Angela Hussain

Detained psychiatric patients have no protection under a national mental health code of practice, campaigners warn.

It follows a ruling by The House of Lords that Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside acted lawfully when a patient, Colonel Munjaz, was detained in seclusion on four occasions for between four and 20 days at a time.

This decision overrules that of a previous Court of Appeal hearing which held that, in Colonel Munjaz's case, the code had been broken and and his treatment was unlawful.

The mental health charity Mind fears The House of Lords ruling opens the door for Ashworth and other psychiatric hospitals to "ignore the code whenever they choose"

The code, enshrined in the Mental Health Act (1983), was drawn up to ensure patients could rely on minimum standards of care. It advises on issues including sectioning, restraint, patients' visiting and correspondence rights, random personal searches and aftercare.

Campaigners now fear, for example, that while the code states that restraint must not involve tying a patient to any part of a building, a hospital could have a policy allowing this.

The House of Lords overruled the Court of Appeal's decision on the grounds that there was nothing in English law which required local policies to be compliant with the code.

Henrietta Marriage, head of Mind's legal unit, said: "This judgement will make it impossible to regulate the care and treatment of people in the most vulnerable situations."

Mental health law is going through its biggest shake-up since 1983 with a draft mental health bill presently going through parliament.

See also:
Sept 28, 2005: Up to 13,000 people could be placed on community treatment orders over 15 years, says report - but Department of Health refutes the King's Fund figures
July 13, 2005: Ministers refuse to add "treatability" condition to draft mental health bill - fears that more people will be compulsory treated is fuelled by government response to parliamentary committee

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