Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that mental health patients who could pose a risk to the wider public have their cases managed appropriately.

The Mental Health Act 1983, now and when reformed, has the necessary powers to enable clinicians to manage high risk mental health patients. The planned reforms will not change the fundamental powers and purpose of the Act, which is to detain and treat people when they are so unwell they become a risk to themselves or others. However, when the very serious decision is taken to detain someone, the reforms will ensure there is a modern framework for the use of these powers, to ensure patients are treated with dignity and respect and that they receive care and treatment which supports recovery.

The Mental Health Bill will seek to improve the management of risk within the Act. This Government has made additional changes to the bill published in draft in 2022 to achieve this, including the introduction of a new requirement for the patient’s responsible clinician to consult another person who has been professionally concerned with the patient’s care when they are deciding about whether to discharge a patient.

NHS England included a requirement in the 2024/25 NHS Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance that all integrated care boards (ICBs) “review their community services by Q2 2024/25 to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up but where engagement is a challenge”.

The outcome of these reviews and local action plans will be presented at ICB’s public boards to ensure the outcome of the review is transparent and locally led.