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Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients

Asked by James McMurdockIndependentDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 13 February 2025UIN 29392

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the patient detention provisions in the Mental Health Act 1983.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock

The Mental Health Bill, currently making its way through Parliament, will deliver the Government’s commitment to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983. It will give patients greater choice, autonomy, enhanced rights and support, and will ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect throughout treatment. It is important to get the balance right to ensure that people get the support and treatment they need, when necessary, for their own protection, or for that of others.

The bill will make the Mental Health Act fit for the modern world, redressing the balance of power from the system to the patient, and ensuring that people with the most severe mental health conditions get better, more personalised, care.

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