Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Bill

Justin Madders Excerpts

2nd reading: House of Commons
Friday 3rd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon North (Mr Reed) for introducing the Bill; he certainly made a powerful case for it. Everything we have heard has made it clear why the Bill is necessary. I congratulate Opposition and Government Members for the constructive way in which they have contributed to the debate so far. There is broad support for the measures in the Bill and I hope that if there are disagreements, they can be ironed out in Committee.

My hon. Friend the Member for Croydon North spoke movingly about the case of Seni Lewis, who, as we heard, tragically died after being restrained face-down in a mental health hospital. We have heard other examples of the issues that the Bill is designed to address. Sadly, Seni’s case was not an isolated incident. Restraint is still used far too regularly, despite Department of Health guidelines that state it should be used only as a last resort. Guidelines state that the dangerous practice of face-down restraint should be phased out, but unfortunately the technique is still used widely. There is significant variation in the use of restraint on mental health patients.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

rose—

[Justin Madders]

I am not going to give way. Many other Members wish to speak and there are other items of business that we want to get to.

As Members have highlighted, there is an issue with unconscious bias. Young black men are statistically more likely to be seen as having psychosis or schizophrenia, and are at risk of being subject to inappropriate use of force, as are women.

[James Cleverly (Braintree) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

--- Later in debate ---

[Justin Madders]

No, I have already made the point that many Members wish to speak so I shall not be giving way.

Metropolitan police figures show that in London, 36% of the 12,605 uses of force between April and June involved black people, despite the group accounting for just 12% of London’s population. Research has shown that women, who make up 46% of patients, are subject to more than half of all incidents of face-down restraint. Women and girls’ mental health conditions are often related to experiences of violence or abuse. The use of physical restraint on a survivor of sexual or physical abuse risks re-traumatising the patient.

It is essential that we take steps to reduce the use of force and address the unconscious bias currently reported in the system. My hon. Friend’s Bill seeks to do that in four key ways: through transparency, evidence, accountability and justice. The Bill will increase transparency. Currently, data are not collected uniformly so accurate data on how often restraint is used, and on how restraint is used disproportionately against certain demographics, are hard to collate. The Bill requires a registered provider to keep a record of any physical restraint of a person at any of its mental health units. That will include the place, time and duration of the restraint, the gender, age and ethnicity of the person who has been restrained and, critically, justifications for the use of restraint. Recording in a uniform way when, how and why restraint is used, who it is used on and what steps were taken to avoid its use, will increase transparency. It will allow us to take steps to improve the system where issues of unconscious bias or the overuse of restraint occur.

The Bill introduces steps to build and improve the evidence available when force or restraint are used. Currently, many forces require officers to wear operational body cameras, but not all. The Bill will require all police officers to wear such a camera when they are called to a mental health unit for any reason, unless there are clear operational reasons for not doing so. Research carried out at the University of Cambridge found that the use of police body-worn cameras made the use of force 50% less likely. Furthermore, the research found that the number of complaints filed against officers reduced tenfold. The evidence shows us that body-worn cameras work. They increase public trust in the police and protect our police officers from spurious complaints. The Bill would therefore improve overall accountability.

The Bill creates two further duties: it requires the responsible person to make and maintain a written policy for the use of physical restraint and take steps to ensure that physical restraint is used only in compliance with that policy, and it requires training to be provided to all frontline staff.

The Bill also seeks to improve access to justice. We want to ensure that tragedies such as those we have heard about today do not happen again. The bulk of the Bill works towards that goal. When tragedies such as what happened to Seni occur, we need to make sure that they are properly investigated and that the families of the victims receive justice. The Bill makes it compulsory for an independent investigation to be carried out whenever a death occurs in a mental health unit and the person has been physically restrained. This will end the scandal of families not knowing the circumstances of their loved one’s death.

The Bill is a step towards a model of care, rather than one of containment. Its measures will support mental health patients, their families, and emergency service workers. It will increase public trust in the emergency services and promote dignity and respect in mental health services. Restraint is used too often and disproportionately in certain sections of society. This cannot be allowed to continue. When she responds, I hope the Minister will support the Bill and allow it to be sent to Committee.