Councils must call on executive for cash

Scottish councils need to “put pressure on the Scottish executive
for more money” so they can fulfil key duties in the Mental Health
(Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Bill, a senior official at the
Mental Welfare Commission said last week.

Social work commissioner Juliet Cheetham told delegates that the
new act, which was passed in April amid controversy that it had
been rushed through, would “transform mental health services for
large numbers of people” (News, page 6, 27 March).

But she added that councils would need to think about how they
would interpret the new duties to arrange services to promote the
well-being and social development of the service user and to help
them as far as possible to minimise the effect of mental
disorder.

The work of mental health officers, who are mentioned more than 400
times in the bill, will be at the heart of the changes.