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Modernising the Mental Health Act – the key points

Details

Modernising the Mental Health Act is the final published report from the independent review into the Mental Health Act (MHA). It includes 154 recommendations to the Government on how the MHA and associated practices could change to improve implementation and service user experience.

This summary highlights key elements of this aspirational report. However, whether the recommendations will be implemented as expected or have the effect intended is a matter for considerable debate.

The Modernising the Mental Health Act report (the report) and its recommendations centre entirely on reinforcing and incorporating four key principles into the MHA:

  1. Choice and autonomy – to ensure service users’ views and choices are respected
  2. Least restriction – to ensure MHA powers are used in the least restrictive way
  3. Therapeutic benefit – to ensure patients are supported to get better so that they can be discharged from the MHA
  4. The person as an individual – to ensure that patients are viewed and treated as rounded individuals

Read our full summary

If you require any guidance, advice or training in relation to these proposed amendments to the MHA or the MHA more generally, please do not hesitate to contact Kiran Bhogal, Sharon Thomas, Paul Allerston or Amy Clarke and we will do all that we can to assist.

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