[Admin - Rethink]

Hi all,

Claire from Rethink's advice team will be here on the 25th January to answer your questions about the Mental Health Act, also known as the MHA.

Some of our frequently asked questions include:

• How can the MHA be used to admit someone to hospital?
  
• What happens when someone is assessed under the MHA?
  
• Can you be treated without my consent under the MHA?
  
• Who is my Nearest Relative under the MHA? Is this the same as next of kin?

What's your question? Post it here.

[I am an Aardvark]

Against Human Rights all of this isn't it?

[mld]

If you get 136ed by the police, but the hospital lets you go when picked up by a carer, have you still been sectioned, albeit for a few hours whilst waiting for doctors and ASW, or who ever they are nowadays?
This has happened to me a few times, and there have been no places available in hospital so my husband has been called and asked if he will take responsibility for me! I wonder what would have happened if he had said no.?

[ebonycat]

Hi I've been on a 117 for 6 years now

I have to attend depot clinics or they come to me to give me my injection.

I do not get any services other than the depot clinic

I feel that my Trust used the 117 instead of a cto

can I demand direct payments for social services and groups?as I am on a 117?

[Able Scribe]

Chris - Rethink, on 11 January 2011 - 06:26 PM, said:

Hi all,

Claire from Rethink's advice team will be here on the 25th January to answer your questions about the Mental Health Act, also known as the MHA.

Some of our frequently asked questions include:

• How can the MHA be used to admit someone to hospital?
  
• What happens when someone is assessed under the MHA?
  
• Can you be treated without my consent under the MHA?
  
• Who is my Nearest Relative under the MHA? Is this the same as next of kin?

What's your question? Post it here.

How does Anyone in Parliament have any assurance as to the appropriateness of their legislative measures, when No one in Parliament has ever professed to any direct experience of mental ill-health. In any other walk of life, we would all be saying 'they do not know what the h*ll they are Talking About!' - which they do not.

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[KWIN]

mld, on 13 January 2011 - 09:40 PM, said:

If you get 136ed by the police, but the hospital lets you go when picked up by a carer, have you still been sectioned, albeit for a few hours whilst waiting for doctors and ASW, or who ever they are nowadays?
This has happened to me a few times, and there have been no places available in hospital so my husband has been called and asked if he will take responsibility for me! I wonder what would have happened if he had said no.?

no you havent been sectioned, you ahve been taken to aplace of safety (usually a police station allocated area or room at a and e)you should then have been seen by a medic and an AMHP before any discharge be that home or elsewhere. If he had said no I would suspect that you would have had a more thorough assessment with medica and amhp and if you had required further support this could have been explored then.

[KWIN]

ebonycat, on 16 January 2011 - 03:24 PM, said:

Hi I've been on a 117 for 6 years now

I have to attend depot clinics or they come to me to give me my injection.

I do not get any services other than the depot clinic

I feel that my Trust used the 117 instead of a cto

can I demand direct payments for social services and groups?as I am on a 117?

CTOs are relatively new (in the last year) therefore this couldnt have been used 6 years ago. This may have been considered if you have been detained within the last eyar as part of your planning for discharge?. 117 aftercare remains unless you have been discharged from the aftercare provision which is unlikely as you are still receiving treatment. Direct payments is still a means tested value: you would have to meet critical and substantial needs from the local authority who you would like services from. It can be argued that if there is a need for your mental health to remain stable that you require additional services via group work and such. however the assessment process varies greatly from one local authoirty to another and the links between health and social care in your area.

[KWIN]

Able Scribe, on 20 January 2011 - 10:32 PM, said:

How does Anyone in Parliament have any assurance as to the appropriateness of their legislative measures, when No one in Parliament has ever professed to any direct experience of mental ill-health. In any other walk of life, we would all be saying 'they do not know what the h*ll they are Talking About!' - which they do not.

question for the 25th please:
if a woman resides with her ex husband for a period of 9 months due to her being homeless (therefore not as husband and wife and no care is being provided for her from the ex husband) would he still be classed as nearest relative? also if their adult son resides with them: would this be the nearest relative?

Chris - Rethink, on 11 January 2011 - 05:26 PM, said:

Hi all,

Claire from Rethink's advice team will be here on the 25th January to answer your questions about the Mental Health Act, also known as the MHA.

Some of our frequently asked questions include:

• How can the MHA be used to admit someone to hospital?
  
• What happens when someone is assessed under the MHA?
  
• Can you be treated without my consent under the MHA?
  
• Who is my Nearest Relative under the MHA? Is this the same as next of kin?

What's your question? Post it here.



question for the 25th please:
if a woman resides with her ex husband for a period of 9 months due to her being homeless (therefore not as husband and wife and no care is being provided for her from the ex husband) would he still be classed as nearest relative? also if their adult son resides with them: would this be the nearest relative?

[John A]

Chris - Rethink, on 11 January 2011 - 05:26 PM, said:

What's your question? Post it here.

Is there an existing issue group that is campaigning for the repeal of the Mental Health Act?

[Able Scribe]

John A, on 23 January 2011 - 01:44 AM, said:

Is there an existing issue group that is campaigning for the repeal of the Mental Health Act?

Too much of the content of the MHA is so blatantly without the consent of targeted people that it needed a radical overhaul before it hit the statute book. If you think no one is campaigning on this lock-out, you might like to spread this campaign slogan about, on behalf of those victimised.

NO COMPULSION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!

[Admin - Rethink]

Hi all,

Just a reminder that this webchat is today at 12.30pm.

Do you feel like you know enough about your rights under the Mental Health Act?

Tell us what concerns you about it, or what you want to know about 'sectioning', supervised community treatment, and other powers that the Act gives.

Claire from the Advice team will be here at 12.30 to anwswer your questions.

[Claire - Rethink]

Hi All,

Claire Lloyd here from the Rethink Advice & Information Service (RAIS). RAIS provides practical advice on a wide range of mental health issues. We receive a lot of calls and emails to the service about the Mental Health Act and what rights people have under this Act.

The queries that we receive are from a wide range of different people - people detained under the Act, friends, relatives, advocates etc.

I hope to be able to answer as many questions as I can today!

Claire

[jellyfish]

How does the MHA protect me against the Government?

I'm wondering what the legal position of making someone more ill is. I know it's morally wrong, but what right does the Government have to make my condition worse? and the health of thousands of people

[mld]

As I wrote before,
If you get 136ed by the police, but the hospital lets you go when picked up by a carer, have you still been sectioned, albeit for a few hours whilst waiting for doctors and ASW, or who ever they are nowadays?
This has happened to me a few times, and there have been no places available in hospital so my husband has been called and asked if he will take responsibility for me! I wonder what would have happened if he had said no.?

M.

[Claire - Rethink]

Hello mld,

In relation to your query, Section 136 is used by the Police to remove someone from a public place to a place of safety.

Once the person is moved to a place of safety, they can be detained for a short period of time (72 hours only) so that arrangements can be made for a full assessment to take place about what care or treatment the person may need.

Sometimes, this may lead to the person being formally detained under one of the other sections of the Mental Health Act such as section 2 (for assessment and/or treatment for up to 28 days) or section 3 (for treatment for up to 6 months).

If, following the assessment, it was decided that the person did not need to be admitted to hospital, then the person would be able to return home. It sounds like this happened in your case.

If you husband had not been able to care for you at home then the assessing team would need to look at whether your treatment and care needed to be provided in hospital in the absence of any support or care at home.

Claire

[Claire - Rethink]

Hello ebonycat,

CTOs were introduced as a new way of managing care in the community in 2008. CTOs are most commonly used if someone is detained under Section 3 of the MHA in hospital but it is felt that the need to be in hospital has reduced and therefore their care and treatment can be provided in the community.

CTOs can be used for people detained under other sections such as s.37, s.45A, 47 or s.49 but most commonly they will be used when someone has been detained under s.3.

This means that if you have not had a readmission under the Mental Health Act in the last 6 years then a CTO would not have been an option to consider at the time when you were discharged.

Section 117 refers to the legal duty to provide aftercare services to people who have been detained under certain sections of the MHA. This duty continues until the person in question is assessed as no longer in need of aftercare services.

If you feel that you are in need of more support than you are currently receiving then you could ask for your social care needs to be reassessed. If your care is being co-ordinated under the Care Programme Approach programme (CPA) then you could ask your care co-ordinator to do this. If you have an ‘assessed social care need’ then you can ask for a direct payment to meet this need. You must be able to show that what you spend the direct payment on meets the need that you have been assessed as having.

The RAIS has some useful factsheets on Direct Payments and Care and Aftercare which may be helpful to you. You can download them at www.mentalhealthshop.org.

Claire

[mld]

Thank you.

It was just that each time I have been picked up by the police, the first thing they say is, "have you been sectioned before?" and I have not known what to say.

M.

[Admin - Rethink]

All our factsheets are listed here http://www.mentalhea...tsheets_az.html - there's also a link in the top navigation bar on this site, labelled 'Factsheets'

[Claire - Rethink]

Hello KWIN,

If a couple are permanently separated and there is an agreement to this on the part of both parties then this person can be disregarded as the other person’s Nearest Relative (NR).

In the case you have described, provided that the couple are not living as husband and wife again now that they are under the same roof, the divorce would be sufficient to show an agreement to permanently separate. If they are essentially living separate lives but under the same roof out of necessity then they could not be viewed as living together as husband and wife.

The NR would therefore be the next person in the list outlined in Section 26 of the MHA which would be the eldest of any adult children.

The RAIS team have produced a factsheet called Nearest Relative which provides a lot of information about the rights of the Nearest Relative under the Mental Health Act. This can be downloaded at www.mentalhealthshop.org.

Claire

[Admin - Rethink]

Nearest relative factsheet: http://www.mentalhea...lative_fac.html