A Successor Body to the Mental Health Act Commission
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19164/ijmhcl.v0i4.301Abstract
“The Mental Health Act Commission (MHAC) has a major role in protecting the interests of patients
who are subject to the provisions of the 1983 Act. Its principal functions are to:
• appoint Second Opinion Appointed Doctors
• review treatments given under sections 57(2) or 58(3)(b) of the Act, ie treatment that requires a second opinion
• visit detained patients and investigate complaints
• keep under review the exercise of statutory powers relating to detained patients
• submit proposals for a code of practice
• look into matters relating to informal patients, when directed to do so by the Secretary of State,
and
• report to the Secretary of State every two years on the operation of the Act.”
This is the summary of the functions of the MHAC contained in the Green Paper on Reform of the Mental Health Act 1983. In this brave new world of the Modern NHS, with much enhanced arrangements for local quality assurance and clinical governance, the Commission for Health Improvement, the Commission for Care Standards, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, the establishment of Patient Advocate and Liaison Services, and the numerous other ways of increasing patient participation which are outlined in the National Plan for England, is a successor body to the Mental Health Act Commission really necessary ?
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