Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to ensure (a) the availability of inpatient beds in acute psychiatric hospitals and (b) that sectioning under the Mental Health Act is only used as a last resort; and what assessment he has made of whether the availability of inpatient beds in acute psychiatric hospitals has had an effect on the number of sections under the Mental Health Act 1983.

The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health precipitated a five year programme aimed at building capacity within community-based services to reduce demand on the acute sector and in-patient beds and treat people closer to home. This work includes £400 million additional investment by 2021 for crisis resolution and home treatment teams, so that these services are available 24/7 and can help treat more people in the community and reduce hospital admissions.

This programme also includes specific action to improve access to high quality acute mental health care, and to eliminate out of area placements.

Following concerns about increasing incidence of detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 in recent years, in October 2017 my Rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister commissioned an independent review to look at how the legislation and practice can be improved. Professor Sir Simon Wessely is leading the Review, which will publish an interim report in the spring and a final report in late 2018.

The Care Quality Commission has examined the factors that may be affecting the rise of detentions under the Act, and reported this January. It identified a number of factors including changes in the law and its interpretation, demographic changes, improved data reporting, as well as pressure on beds. The report, “Mental Health Act – The rise in the use of the MHA to detain people in England” is available at:

http://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/themed-work/mental-health-act-rise-mha-detain-england