In 2017, Professor Sir Simon Wessely was appointed by Prime Minister Theresa May to lead a review in to the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA). He convened a number of advisory groups on various themes which were relevant and I was lucky enough to be invited to be a part of that, whilst working at the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs Council. At the very first meeting of the main advisory group, Professor Wessely invited Professor Genevra Richardson to present – a professor of law from King’s College, London, she had conducted the previous review of the MHA in 1999 which eventually led to the reforming legislation we saw in the Mental Health Act 2007.
The first thing she did was emphasise the timescales they experienced previously – they reported in 1999 recommending an entirely new Mental Health Act and that was introduced but it fell in 2004 and was withdrawn entirely. We subsequently ended up with a much more modest reform of the MHA ‘83 in the 2007 Act. Professor Richardson first of all cautioned everyone who was excited by the prospect of modernisation to understand it may take best part of a decade to see anything happen.
We now know this was wise, prophetic advice.
REPORT AND REACTION
By December 2018, Professor Wessely had completed his review and it was submitted to government recommending significant reform of the MHA ‘83 – you can read summary of that if you want to refresh your memory by using the previous link in this paragraph. Since then, we have seen a Government response to his report, a White Paper about which set out the government’s intentions and various debates before eventually, a draft Mental Health Bill 2022 was published and began its journey through parliament, reaching the point where a Joint Committee of the Houses of Commons and Lords reported on it.
We are now almost five years post-Wessely Review with a Bill already within the parliamentary process.
This week’s King’s Speech, however, made no mention of the Mental Health Bill progressing. A number of charities and campaigners now believe the bill has been sidelined or de-prioritised and bearing in mind there will be little chance to fully conclude a Bill before the next General Election, this may well have just been kicked down the road.
Objection has come from campaigner Steve Gilbert who acted as a vice-chair of Professor Wessely’s review and who was awarded an OBE for that and his other campaigning work on mental health. We are also seeing social media reaction from other campaigners with lived-experience like Frank Bruno MBE and all the major mental health charities like Mind and Rethink as well as the Centre for Mental Health, the National Survivor User Network and others — all arguing this is a missed opportunity make necessary reforms to reduce coercion, stigma and discrimination.
Winner of the President’s Medal,
the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Winner of the Mind Digital Media Award
All opinions expressed are my own – they do not represent the views of any organisation.
(c) Michael Brown, 2023
I try to keep this blog up to date, but inevitably over time, amendments to the law as well as court rulings and other findings from inquests and complaints processes mean it is difficult to ensure all the articles and pages remain current. Please ensure you check all legal issues in particular and take appropriate professional advice where necessary.
Government legislation website – www.legislation.gov.uk
Mental Health Cop 