13th biennial Mental Health Act Commission report

In the U.K. the Mental Health Act Commission's 13th biennial report has now been published. The report claims that staff looking after people detained under the Mental Health Act are putting them at risk because they lack proper training in restraint methods. The report calls for an accredited training programme on restraint, something first recommended in 1998 after the death - following restraint - of service user David 'Rocky' Bennett. The report also says that staff need further training in observing patients at risk of sucide and self-harm; nearly 40% of suicides on wards between 2001-2008 occured while patients were under continuous or frequent observation. The report found that 80 under 18s were admitted to adult mental-health units between October 2008 and February 2009, four of whom were under 15. The report also looked at community treatment orders. It found that they were placing a strain on mental health services and that ethnic minorities were over-represented among people subject to the orders.

You can download the full report at

http://www.cqc.org.uk/_db/_documents/MHAC_Biennial_Report_0709_final.pdf