Lords amend Mental Health Bill

Peers inflicted further defeats on the government¹s Mental Health Bill yesterday by voting to ensure compulsory community treatment is only used on people who would otherwise be in and out of hospital.

The House of Lords voted by 173 to 140 to ensure community treatment orders, which would previously have applied to anyone who had been sectioned, could only apply to “revolving door” patients.

The Mental Health Alliance said the CTO amendment placed the orders on a similar footing to those in Scotland, parts of Australia and the United States and called upon the government to accept the changes the Lords had made.

Peers also backed an amendment stating that children detained under mental health legislation be placed in age-appropriate accommodation.

An amendment giving people the right to appeal against the conditions of their CTO was narrowly defeated.

But the government did give assurances that it would bring new proposals for mental health advocates for people subject to compulsory treatment once the bill reached the Commons.

The bill’s report stage is expected to be completed today and the legislation is likely to reach the Commons after Easter.

Essential mental health information