Rosie Winterton reinstates Mental Health Bill plan to scrap therapeutic treatment test

Health minister Rosie Winterton and fellow Labour MPs have reinstated provisions into the Mental Health Bill allowing patients to be sectioned for treatment that may not provide any therapeutic benefit.

They overturned an amendment passed in the House of Lords which would have restricted compulsory care to cases where it was “likely to alleviate or prevent a deterioration” in a person’s condition, in line with the status quo.

The bill as it now stands would allow people to be sectioned for treatment that is appropriate, “taking into account the nature and degree of the mental disorder and all other circumstances of his case”.

All but one of the Labour MPs backed the government line at a committee hearing on Tuesday, with the other, Chris Bryant, not voting.