Mental health reforms ‘mark vital step' in improving care quality
Other changes include ensuring that detention and compulsory treatment are only undertaken when necessary, with provision for more frequent reviews and appeals, and limiting the time people with autism or a learning disability can be detained.
The Bill has already been scrutinised in the House of Lords and is being debated in the House of Commons on Monday evening.
Mr Streeting told MPs: 'The measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. When it comes to the treatment of people with serious mental illness, we are falling well short of the humane, compassionate society we aspire to be.
'Patients live 15 to 20 years shorter lives than the average. They are often accommodated far away from their family and loved ones.
'The facilities they are housed in can be completely unsuitable. Lord Darzi found during his investigation last year nearly 20 patients in a mental health facility forced to share two showers and live amongst an infestation of rats and cockroaches.
'Patients are denied the basic choice and agency that is awarded to NHS patients with physical illnesses. People from ethnic minority communities, and especially black African and Caribbean men, are more than three times as likely to be sectioned.
'Although they are very different conditions, people with a learning disability or autistic people are often lumped in with those who have mental illness – reflecting an outdated lack of medical understanding.'
Mr Streeting added: 'While attitudes to mental health have come on leaps and bounds in the past four decades, the law has been frozen in time.
'As a result, the current legislation fails to give patients adequate dignity, voice and agency in their care.
'This is despite the fact that patients themselves have consistently told us that being treated humanely and making decisions about their own care plays a vital role in their recovery.
'When patients are detained and treated without any say over what is happening to them, it can have serious consequences for their ongoing health.'
Mr Streeting went on: 'This Bill does not solve every problem in our mental health services, but it marks a vital step in our plans to improve the quality of care, combat long-standing inequalities and bring about a stronger focus on prevention and early intervention in mental health.'
Mr Streeting said mental health professionals will 'have to consider the risk of serious harm when making decisions to detain' which will ensure 'any risks to the public and patients are considered as part of the assessment process'.
He said: 'The vast majority of people with mental illness, including severe mental illness, present no risk to themselves or others and for the majority of people, treatment can be provided without compulsion.
'However, there are some people whose illness, when acutely unwell, can make them a risk to themselves and sometimes to others.
'No one knows this better than the families of Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber or Grace O'Malley Kumar, the victims of Valdo Calocane's violent rampage in Nottingham, whose campaign for justice and accountability has been truly awe inspiring, or indeed the family of Valdo Calocane, who I have also spent time with listening to their experience of feeling badly let down by health services.
'As the independent investigation into the murders found, both he and his victims were failed by the health service, and the families are left to live through the consequences in a level of pain the rest of us could scarcely imagine.'
Shadow health secretary Ed Argar welcomed the Bill, saying it's 'not only important but right that our laws are updated to reflect the modern world and the knowledge we have today'.
He said: 'I believe it is right that we took the time to get this right. That work updating the Mental Health Act started under the previous government, and we had a commitment in our election manifesto to update the laws in this area, and that is something that has been carried on by the new government, and we continue to believe this is the right thing to do.
'So I want to put on record our in principle, support for the Government in this legislation.'
He told MPs the Conservative 'welcome efforts to improve the patient's voice involvement in their own care' through 'greater use of advanced choice documents'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
16 minutes ago
- The Independent
Heart attack patients diverted as IT outage hits hospitals
Two major NHS hospitals in the South West, Cheltenham and Gloucestershire, experienced a significant IT outage on Wednesday, forcing staff to resort to paper systems. The trust confirmed the outage was due to a server issue, not a cyber-attack, but it led to the diversion of heart attack patients and affected internal telephone systems. This IT failure occurred just before a five-day resident doctor strike, which NHS leaders have warned could compromise patient safety. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has urged the British Medical Association to suspend its guidance advising doctors not to disclose strike participation, citing difficulties in maintaining safe patient care. There is an ongoing dispute between the BMA and NHS England regarding the maintenance of routine care during the strikes, with the union arguing it would endanger patients.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
How do I donate blood? NHS call for donors with rare blood types
An initiative to help individuals with rare blood types secure a "precision-matched" donation to avoid the risk of severe reactions has been launched by the NHS. Scientists have embarked on a large-scale research project, DNA -testing the blood of 77,000 donors to date. Blood collected from these rare donors will be frozen, creating a vital reserve for others with the same specific blood type. Crucially, this stored blood will also be available to the donor themselves, should they ever require a transfusion. The reserve of rare blood donors will help avoid severe transfusion reactions, where the body sees the transfused blood as 'foreign' and rejects it. People who are particularly at risk of these reactions are those who regularly receive blood donations, including those with sickle cell disorder and thalassaemia. It comes after the NHS raised the alarm over low blood stocks last month. The NHS said it needed 200,000 more regular blood donors to sustain a safe and sufficient supply. Low blood stocks in 2024 prompted an "amber alert', but blood stocks have remained low ever since. NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is now urging more people to donate to avoid a "red alert", which is a critical situation where public safety is threatened. It described the past year as "challenging" for blood stocks, noting that just under 800,000 people are supporting the entire blood supply in England. How do I donate blood? The whole process of giving blood takes just one hour. When arriving at a blood donation centre, you are asked to complete a safety check to make sure you can give blood. You will be given 500ml of fluid to drink – drinking this will help the body maintain blood pressure, prevent dizziness and help the body replenish the donated blood. Then, to ensure it is safe to donate blood, medics will confirm your identity and information during a health check. In some cases, a registered nurse will follow it up. A drop of blood from your finger is then checked for iron levels. If these levels are too low, the appointment will be rescheduled. Those able to donate will be seated in the waiting area before being called to a donation chair. Here, a cuff will be placed on your arm to maintain a small amount of pressure during the donation before a suitable vein is found and the area is cleaned. Then, a needle will be inserted into your arm to collect your blood into a blood bag, which has your unique donor number on it. A scale weighs the blood and stops when you have donated 470ml - that's just under a pint. The needle is then removed from your arm, and a dressing is applied. The NHS says the process of giving blood should not hurt and should only take about 10 minutes. Who can donate blood? Although more donors are needed, some health, travel and lifestyle reasons may stop you from donating blood. Donors need to be fit and well, aged between 17 and 65, weigh between 7 stone 12 Ibs (50kg) and 25 stone (158kg) and have suitable veins. However, you can't donate blood if you have cancer, some heart conditions, have tested positive for HIV or are a hepatitis B or C carrier. If you have received blood platelets, plasma or any other blood products after January 1980, or if you have injected non-prescribed drugs including body-building and injectable tanning agents, you also cannot donate. If you've had anal sex with a new partner in the last three months, you may have to postpone your donation. If you feel unwell, are pregnant or have had a baby in the last six months, have had a tattoo or piercing, or have recently travelled to certain countries outside the UK, you may also have to wait before you can donate blood. Where can I donate blood? There are thousands of blood donation venues across England, some are permanent and others are pop-ups. Church halls, sports centres, mosques, football stadiums and hotels are all used as pop-up venues. To check where your closest one is, visit the Give Blood website. You will need to book an appointment ahead of your donation, which can be done online as soon as you have signed up as a blood donor. What type of blood is needed? There is a 'critical' need for more donors who have the so-called universal blood type, O negative blood, which is needed for treatment in emergencies. The NHS said there is also a need for more Black donors, who are more likely to have specific blood types which can help treat people with sickle cell disease.
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Online self-diagnosis is dangerous and causing 'fixation on worst case scenarios' says GP
More people are turning to Google for healthcare, as GPs are having to deal with patients self-diagnosing. Dr Martin Thornton speaks to The Mirror about the dangers of doing this for most commonly searched symptoms Many young people have admitted to losing faith in their GP, and have turned to alternative measures for help - but how far can Google really go when you need help? With many of Gen Z experiencing their teenage years in Covid, it's no wonder many suffer with health anxiety. With years worth of Covid scares as well asextortionate NHS waiting times trying to see a medical professional, people have turned to online help. Many of us are guilty of turning to 'Dr Google' or ChatGPT for advice when we notice something wrong, as figures from 2023 show that there were nearly 50 million health-related Google searches, while NHS figures also show that GP consultations have fallen by 30% over the last year. Dr Martin Thornton, Chief Medical Officer at Bluecrest spoke to The Mirror why this might have happened - and why it can be so dangerous. "What we've seen is that Gen Z has grown up with the internet in their pocket, so it seems a natural behaviour to turn to search engines, or even AI for quick, anonymous and shame-free answers," he explained. "While that information is always available, there's huge swathes of health information online that hasn't been verified by healthcare professionals, so can't always be trusted." Traditionally access to health information and advice was only garnered from seeing a GP or medical professional, but now people are able to access it easier than ever through the internet. But is this creating more fear and anxiety, with information being so easily accessible? Or does it mean people no longer feel the need to see their doctor? Dr Martin reveals the truth. Calling at 8am, and joining the mad rush of people hoping to get an on-the-day appointment isn't enjoyable for anyone, especially when you can have a quick search on your phone to figure out if you're in urgent need of attention or not. So it's easy to see why this may becoming a more popular alternative. During the pandemic, GP consultations took place online and by phone where appropriate, as a response to restrictions on face-to-face contact. This can often be more convenient for patients and more opportunities for this type of contact have become the norm. However Dr Thornton said: "access doesn't always equal understanding". He warned: "Misinformation online is rife, and younger generations may lack the experience to spot unreliable sources, through no fault of their own – that's a healthcare professional's job." He added that what he's seeing more and more in his clinic is "people becoming fixated on worst-case scenarios". He detailed: "It happens especially after looking up symptoms online. While it's good that people are taking ownership of their health, there's a fine line between health intelligence, and knowing what to do with it. In some cases, online searches feed into existing fears, which can be hard to ignore without guidance from a healthcare professional." For more stories like this subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Weekly Gulp, for a curated roundup of trending stories, poignant interviews, and viral lifestyle picks from The Mirror's Audience U35 team delivered straight to your inbox. This is causing a surge in people thinking they could have something more severe than they do. Dr Thornton said: "It's increasingly common for patients to arrive with a self-diagnosis in hand, sometimes fearing the worst. While I'm happy that patients are taking control of their health, more often than not, I'm happy to tell them that their fears are unfounded." He reiterated that professional evaluation is so important, to provide the context around vital health intelligence. In terms of Covid and the mental health impacts of the pandemic, the expert said he has noticed how that time shifted how people think about illness. While public health messaging was vital at the time, Dr Thornton said it's left a "lingering sense of unease for many, and it's important not to ignore a lingering cough, it's also important to think of the wider context around perceived symptoms." But it has also meant people are more health conscious than previous generations. He added: "At Bluecrest, we certainly see health assessments taken up more regularly by over 30s, and our research shows that health intelligence is highest in Gen Xs. "At the same time, we know that many conditions, from high cholesterol to vitamin deficiencies, can appear much earlier than people expect. The key is reframing preventive health as a tool for confidence, alongside advice and support, so that people aren't left wondering what to do with the health data they receive," he explained. With this in mind, Dr Thornton has detailed some of the most common symptoms people may have, and the risks of Googling them. Pain We've all been guilty of googling a nagging pain at one point, but it's one of the most misunderstood ailments. An online search might suggest anything from trapped nerves to late-stage cancer, when in reality, a lot of pains could be temporary, mechanical, or stress-related. The danger is that people either panic unnecessarily or, conversely, dismiss persistent pain that could benefit from clinical attention. It'll be important to talk to your doctor about the context and history of your pain, as well as complete a physical examination to truly understand the pain puzzle, something that I don't think AI can offer yet! Fatigue If you're feeling more tired than usual, and type in a quick Google search, you might be alarmed to be presented with chronic fatigue syndrome, thyroid disorders, or even leukaemia. But the truth is, there are often lifestyle factors at play, whether it's poor sleep or diet, dehydration, stress, or even low iron. Before sending yourself into a spiral of anxiety, speaking to a doctor could help you uncover something that could be easily addressed. Itchy skin Google 'itchy skin' and you could be served with anything from liver disease, kidney failure or rare skin conditions. But most of the time, itching can be down to dry skin, allergies, or irritation. The risk with online searches is that people self-diagnose too early or panic before ruling out simple causes like soap sensitivity or winter dryness. Stomach aches Stomach pain can mean anything from indigestion to appendicitis when you ask Google. And while some causes do require urgent care, the majority are due to diet, stress or hormonal changes. If stomach pain persists, a more thorough assessment can give you the health intelligence you need to deal with it. Coughs We've been trained to be very suspicious of coughs post-Covid, and this could be a good thing, as persistent coughs that last longer than three weeks could signal something worse. However, common culprits are viral illnesses. I often find that patients who have googled their coughs are keen for antibiotics, which could have significant long-term consequences when used inappropriately. Rashes Skin rashes can look alarming online, particularly when you're served hundreds of graphic images of serious rashes. Lots of rashes are harmless, particularly in younger adults. The biggest risk is either overreacting and fearing something serious like meningitis, or missing red flags because online advice has falsely reassured you. Stiff neck A stiff neck can be scary, especially when a quick search brings up meningitis or spinal infections as top results. While these are serious conditions, they are also rare. Most cases of stiff neck are due to muscle strain, poor posture (sometimes ironically from poor tech hygiene!), or sleeping in an awkward position. It's important to assess things in context and avoid jumping to worst-case scenarios. Headaches Be honest, who hasn't googled a headache and feared the worst case scenario after a bad night? In reality, the vast majority of headaches are due to tension, dehydration, eye strain, or hormonal changes. Headache patterns, frequency, and associated symptoms are what matter most, and that needs professional input and health intelligence. Eczema patches - usually on the back Eczema can be really uncomfortable, so it's no wonder people are keen for answers, and are often told online that these patches can indicate autoimmune disorders of even skin cancer. Though uncomfortable, eczema is extremely common, particularly in young adults, and is often triggered by dry skin, allergens, stress, or even your clothing. Remember, online images look totally different on different body types and skin tones, so if you're truly concerned, a healthcare professional can help you piece together the eczema puzzle. Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you!
