VODG welcomes the Mental Health Act receiving Royal Assent and its significance in the legal protections, care, support and experience of those with mental health conditions, people with a learning disability and autistic people who have for too long been subject to archiac laws.
The Act will reform the outdated Mental Health Act of 1983, which provides the legal framework to detain and treat people in a mental health crisis who are at risk of harm to themselves or others.
The modernised Act will implement urgent reforms which VODG, our members, people with lived experience and other experts have been calling for almost a decade, bringing mental health care into the 21st century and empowering patients to take charge of their treatment.
It will support NHS staff to provide more personalised care for those who need it and offers an important opportunity to reframe community provision, grow local capacity and prioritise alternatives to long-stay hospitals.
VODG current position paper on this, including some of the actions we hope to see and inform, can be found here. We have written to both the Disability Minister and Social Care Minister offering our congratulations at getting the Act through and offering our support in its implementation and the transformation of community provision required.