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King’s speech announces long-awaited reform of Mental Health Act, waiting times and prevention

Long-awaited reforms to the Mental Health Act that will raise the threshold for detention are among the measures announced in the first King’s Speech of the new government

17th July 2024 about a 4 minute read
“Reforms to the Mental Health Act are long overdue and could improve care for vulnerable people, raising the focus given to mental health and giving patients more of a say in their treatment – but investment in mental health nursing is needed to boost workforce numbers and transform outcomes." Professor Nicola Ranger, general secretary, Royal College of Nursing

The new government will reform the Mental Health Act so that it is “fit for the twenty first century,” it was announced in the King’s Speech today.

The previous government had promised to reform the Mental Health Act, but dropped the proposals in the last parliament. The modernisation proposed by the Labour government is likely to include the measures outlined in the previous government’s draft bill in 2022, including raising the threshold for detention under the Act and redefining “mental disorder” so that autistic people and people with a learning disability are not treated under section 3 without a coexisting psychiatric disorder.

Charities and lobby groups have been campaigning for some time for government to implement reform of the Act. Last week, Andy Bell, CEO of the Centre for Mental Health, called for improvements to mental health support for people in the criminal justice system. “Nine out of ten prisoners in England have at least one mental health difficulty. Most have a complex mix of health and social problems. And one prisoner in every seven in England is in contact with a mental health team,” Bell noted.

The 2022 draft bill contained plans to introduce a “supervised discharge” for patients in the criminal justice system, as well as a statutory 28-day time limit for transfer from prison to hospital. It seems likely that these will be included in the new government’s reforms.

Reduce waiting times and focus on prevention

The King’s Speech also said that the government “will improve the National Health Service as a service for all, providing care on the basis of need regardless of the ability to pay. It will seek to reduce the waiting times, focus on prevention and improve mental health provision for young people”.

The Royal College of Nursing welcomed the government’s proposals. The RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Reforms to the Mental Health Act are long overdue and could improve care for vulnerable people, raising the focus given to mental health and giving patients more of a say in their treatment – but investment in mental health nursing is needed to boost workforce numbers and transform outcomes.

“The new government is right to focus on our ailing NHS, but measures to increase recruitment into nursing, that are not legislative and not present today, should follow soon. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan is off target, and it needs fresh political energy and investment. Applications to study nursing have collapsed, and ministers should introduce government-funded degrees in the interests of patient safety.”

Gradual ban on smoking

Elsewhere in the speech, there was a commitment to reintroduce the gradual ban on smoking by bringing back the Tobacco and Vapes Bill first announced under Rishi Sunak. This will mean that it will never be legal to sell cigarettes to children born on or after 1 January 2009. There was also mention of a plan to “restrict advertising of junk food to children along with the sale of high caffeine energy drinks to children.”

A new Children’s Wellbeing Bill will require councils in England to maintain registers of children not educated full-time in school, and deliver a manifesto promise for breakfast clubs in all primary schools in England. It will also strengthen multi-agency child protection and safeguarding arrangements.

Downing Street said that the bill would “put children and their wellbeing at the centre of the education and children’s social care systems, and make changes so they are safe, healthy, happy and treated fairly.”

The King also announced plans for a Skills England Bill. The aim of this was to set up an arms-length body to bring together employers and public bodies to make sure that the country has a highly-skilled workforce. This is likely to include making sure that the NHS is able to recruit staff with the skills it needs.

FCC Insight

We are very pleased to see the government announce that the long-awaited, and much delayed, reforms to the Mental Health Act will finally go ahead. These are changes that will be welcomed by those working in the sector, who have been pushing for them for a long time.  It’s also encouraging to see a focus on improving children’s welfare through a Children’s Wellbeing Bill to improve safeguarding arrangements and make sure that primary-age children have access to breakfast clubs. There is still much to be done, particularly in terms of recruiting NHS staff, reducing waiting lists and addressing social care needs, but this is a good start that acknowledges areas of the sector that have failed the public for a number of years.

There wasn’t, however, any specific or explicit mention of a UK AI Bill and very little in the way of NHS digital infrastructure, but a few points that did standout relevant to health data included: electronic records on births and deaths, information standards for health IT suppliers, revisions to the Digital Economy Act, the introduction of broader content for interdisciplinary research, with stronger and broader cybersecurity regulations.