Mental Health Bill: Disability Charities Call for Further Reform
Today’s second reading of the Mental Health Bill in the House of Commons marks a pivotal opportunity to strengthen protections for people affected by mental health legislation – including autistic people and people with a learning disability, who are at heightened risk of inappropriate detention.
Ahead of the debate, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) has published a report calling for further reforms - an urgent call that must be acted upon.
Dr Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive of the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), said:
“VODG has supported the Mental Health Bill from the outset, but further reform is essential to ensure it truly protects the rights of autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
"We welcome the JCHR’s recommendations and key findings, including the requirement to identify mental health needs earlier, enhance protections for children and young people, and address long-standing inequalities and human rights gaps in the system.
"The JCHR report rightly highlights the urgent need for properly funded community support to prevent unnecessary and often protracted detention of autistic people and people with a learning disability in assessment and treatment units (ATUs). Inappropriate detention is fundamentally a human rights issue. We continue to hear disturbing accounts of overmedication, excessive restraint, lack of communication with family members and prolonged solitary confinement in mental health settings.
“The government has been clear in its support to end this human rights scandal but without urgent action to ensure robust plans and strategy are in place to support the development of community support, the commitment to address the growing numbers of autistic people and people with a learning disability wrongfully detained in these settings, will continue to stall.
"VODG and many other organisations working on the programme to prevent admissions and support reprovision out of long-stay to people’s own homes, remain committed to ensuring the Mental Health Bill delivers for everyone - particularly disabled people, who are too often overlooked in mental health policy. Action does not require the passage of the Bill or further consultations. Good practice exists and VODG members stand ready to share what works so that people can be discharged from ATUs quicker or avoid them altogether.”