The Law Lords ruled that people detained under the Mental Health Act had the same 'right to life' as those in prison. Hospitals needed to take reasonable measures to avoid real and immediate risks of harm to patients who had been compulsorily detained.
Source: Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, UKHL 74 (Session 2007-08), House of Lords Judicial Office (020 7219 3111)
Links: Text of judgement | Mind press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Dec
The children's watchdog for England said that mentally ill children were still being failed by the National Health Service. Progress was being made towards the target that by 2010 no child under 18 should normally be treated in an adult ward: but only 15 per cent of trusts were so far treating all children on the right wards. A linked report considered some of the key areas of concern in relation to the level and quality of care and support given to children and young people with mental health problems.
Source: Out of the Shadows? A review of the responses to recommendations made in 'Pushed into the Shadows: young people's experience of adult mental health facilities', Office of the Children's Commissioner (0844 8009113) and YoungMinds | Making Children's Mental Health Matter, Office of the Children's Commissioner
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | OCC press release | YoungMinds press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Oct
A briefing paper summarized research into the experiences of black and minority-ethnic families where one or both parents had severe or enduring mental health problems and where children were under the age of 18. There were considerable differences between the experiences of different BME groups, and differences arising from individual as well as from more general factors like socio-economic position. But some social problems such as poverty and discrimination were more commonly experienced, and there were also some shared difficulties in accessing effective and appropriate mental health services.
Source: Ruby Greene, Richard Pugh and Diane Roberts, Black and Minority Ethnic Parents with Mental Health Problems and their Children, Social Care Institute for Excellence (020 7089 6840)
Links: Paper | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Sep
A paper said that health and social services needed to do more to help the police to deal with people who had mental health problems. It called on the National Health Service to manage healthcare for people in police custody, and to take a more active role in diverting people with mental health problems to the services they needed.
Source: Paul Bather, Rob Fitzpatrick and Max Rutherford, The Police and Mental Health, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Report | SCMH press release
Date: 2008-Sep
A study of the use of police powers under the 1983 Mental Health Act found that twice as many people were being held in cells as in hospitals. Of those people found suffering from distress in a public place in 2005-06, officers brought two-thirds into 'inappropriate' police cells, rather than being taken to hospitals.
Source: Maria Docking, Kerry Grace and Tom Bucke, Police Custody as a Place of Safety, Independent Police Complaints Commission (020 7404 0430)
Links: Report | IPCC press release | Mind press release | Nacro press release | ACPO press release | Community Care report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Sep
The healthcare inspectorate said that there had been continued improvements in the care of people using community mental health services in England. A larger percentage of service users said that they had confidence in mental health professionals, received copies of their care plan, and had a number to contact out-of-hours when in a crisis situation.
Source: Survey of Users of Community Mental Health Services 2008, Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (020 7448 9200)
Links: Report | CHAI press release | Mind press release | MHF press release | NHS Confederation press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Sep
An article signed by 36 leading psychiatrists said that the recent drive within the National Health Service to improve psycho-social care for people with mental illness was both understandable and welcome: evidence-based psychological and social interventions were extremely important in managing psychiatric illness. Nevertheless, the accompanying downgrading of medical aspects of care was 'very damaging' to both the standing and the understanding of psychiatry in the minds of the public, fellow professionals, and the medical students who would be responsible for the specialty's future.
Source: Nick Craddock et al., 'Wake-up call for British psychiatry', British Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 193 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
A think-tank report said that prison mental healthcare was massively underfunded and understaffed.
Source: Charlie Brooker and Ben Ullmann, Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The state of mental healthcare in prison, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650)
Links: Report | Nacro press release | SCMH press release | Liberal Democrats press release
Date: 2008-Jul
A report said that the lives of those stuck on long waiting lists for psychological treatments by the National Health Service were being damaged as a result. Mental health problems could worsen, relationships could break down, and some people were forced to take time off from work – or give up a job completely.
Source: Emily Wooster, While We Are Waiting: Experiences of waiting for and receiving psychological therapies on the NHS, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300) and other organizations
Links: Report | SCMH press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jul
The healthcare inspectorate said that the quality of the services provided by National Health Service acute inpatient mental health trusts varied widely across the country. Some trusts struggled to meet standards, and no trust was scored as 'excellent' across all four of the key criteria. But there were a number of high-performing trusts – proving that it was possible to provide personalized, safe, and good-quality acute mental healthcare.
Source: The Pathway to Recovery: A review of NHS acute inpatient mental health services, Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (020 7448 9200)
Links: Report | CHAI press release | MHF press release | Mind press release | NHS Confederation press release | RCPsych press release | RCN press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Telegraph report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jul
The interim report of an official review said that there had been 'notable improvements' in how services promoted and protected the psychological health and well-being of children and young people: but there was still a great deal more to do.
Source: Improving the Mental Health and Psychological Well-being of Children and Young People: National CAMHS Review Interim Report, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Review press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jul
The mental health services watchdog published its annual report for 2007-08.
Source: Annual Report and Operating Accounts 1 April 2007-31 March 2008, HC 690, Mental Health Act Commission, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
A manifesto highlighted the problems that people with both mental health problems and learning disabilities encountered in terms of their health, life chances, and inclusion.
Source: Chris Fitch, Rowena Daw, Neil Balmer, Katie Gray and Martin Skipper, Fair Deal for Mental Health: Our manifesto for a 3 year campaign dedicated to tackling inequality in mental healthcare, Royal College of Psychiatrists (020 7235 2351)
Links: Manifesto | RCPsych press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jul
A discussion document published by seven national mental health organizations set out the changes needed to enable those with experience of mental health problems to enjoy an equal opportunity of a fulfilling life. It called for a movement away from the dominance of the medical concept of mental health; for greater importance to be placed on public mental health; for services to be united in supporting the recovery of a good quality of life; and for power relations to be shifted in order to give real self-determination over the process and direction of recovery to individuals, their carers, and their families. The Prime Minister should appoint a Cabinet-level champion for mental well-being.
Source: A New Vision for Mental Health: Discussion paper, Mind (020 8519 2122) and other organizations
Links: Report | Press release
Date: 2008-Jun
A paper called for a new, ten-year, cross-government national strategy for mental health and well-being.
Source: Mental Health into the Mainstream, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (020 8741 8147)
Links: Paper | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jun
A report said that prisoners who had experienced abuse and trauma were not being offered essential psychiatric services. Mental ill-health among prisoners was not the exception, but the rule: in particular, women suffered high levels of distress after being separated from their children, and were more prone to self-harm.
Source: Graham Durcan, From the Inside: Experiences of prison mental health care, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: SCMH press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jun
A report said that people with severe mental health problems should be offered more and better practical support, and set out how day and vocational services could make radical changes to achieve this. Investment was tied up in these services which often only offered sheltered and segregated support, rather than giving people support to get jobs and pursue their interests.
Source: Helen Lockett, Linda Seymour and Adam Pozner, About Time: Commissioning to transform day and vocational services, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Summary | SCMH press release
Date: 2008-Jun
A report examined cases in Scotland of suicide and homicide by people with mental illness. It made recommendations designed to strengthen training and services for the management of drug and alcohol misuse, including a focus on 'dual diagnosis' patients; and to improve outreach services for patients at risk of losing contact with care.
Source: National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness, Lessons for Mental Health Care in Scotland, Centre for Suicide Prevention/University of Manchester (0161 275 0700)
Links: Report | Summary | Manchester University press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jun
A report recommended that a statutory body responsible for mental health and well-being should be established in Wales.
Source: Michael Williams, A Well Being and Mental Health Service Fit for Wales, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report | WAG press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jun
A report said that mental health teams in prisons in England were under-staffed and under-funded, and that the very high levels of need of prisoners were not being met.
Source: Charlie Brooker, Sean Duggan, Clare Fox, Alice Mills and Michael Parsonage, Short-changed: Spending on prison mental health care, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Report | SCMH press release | Community Care report | BBC report
Date: 2008-May
A think-tank report examined the cost of meeting mental health needs in England over the following two decades. The prevalence of most mental disorders, including schizophrenia, was likely to remain stable over the period: but there would be a huge increase in dementia – up by almost two-thirds (61 per cent) from 582,827 to 937,636 due to an ageing population. As a result of this, and above-inflation rises in healthcare costs, the bill for mental health services was expected to grow from £22.5 billion to £47 billion.
Source: Paul McCrone, Sujith Dhanasiri, Anita Patel, Martin Knapp and Simon Lawton-Smith, Paying the Price: The cost of mental health care in England to 2026, King's Fund (020 7307 2591)
Links: Report | King's Fund press release | Mind press release | SCMH press release | MHF press release | Help the Aged press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-May
A report described how the Mental Health Act Commission had involved service users in its organization; the methods used to do so; and how service users had influenced and developed these methods.
Source: Rose Sibley, From Strength to Strength: Report on the first two years of the Mental Health Act Commission service user involvement strategy, Mental Health Act Commission (0115 943 7100)
Links: Report | MHAC press release
Date: 2008-Apr
An article examined efforts made at an organizational level in England to improve the quality of primary care for people with mental health problems through the new institutional processes of clinical governance. Despite some achievements with regard to monitoring and standardization of prescribing practice, mental healthcare in primary care seemed to have so far largely 'eluded the gaze' of clinical governance.
Source: Linda Gask, Anne Rogers, Stephen Campbell and Rod Sheaff, 'Beyond the limits of clinical governance? The case of mental health in English primary care', BMC Health Services Research, Volume 8
Date: 2008-Mar
The government published (following consultation) guidance which stipulated that only people with severe needs would in future be treated under the care programme approach (CPA), the system designed to co-ordinate and manage care for people requiring specialist mental health services. From October 2008 the CPA would only apply to complex and high-risk cases, defined as those who needed multi-agency support and intense intervention. It would no longer be used for people with straightforward secondary care needs and contact with only one agency.
Source: Refocusing the Care Programme Approach, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Guidance | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Mar
A report said that mental health services needed to offer people more opportunities to recover their lives, and should focus less on medication and symptom control.
Source: Geoff Shepherd, Jed Boardman and Mike Slade, Making Recovery a Reality, Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (020 7827 8300)
Links: Report | SCMH press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Mar
A mental health watchdog regulator said that mental health services were failing to meet patients' basic rights to safety and dignity. It raised 'serious concern' about the safety of some of the most vulnerable patients detained in hospital for psychiatric care, particularly women and young people in mixed-sex adult wards.
Source: Risks, Rights, Recovery: Twelfth biennial report 2005-2007, Mental Health Act Commission (0115 943 7100)
Links: Report | Mind press release | Rethink press release | MHF press release | BMA press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jan