We welcome today’s launch of the independent review into the Mental Health Act. The recommendations set out in the review aim to improve the way we support and protect mental health patients and seek to give them greater autonomy. The needs and experiences of children and young people has been rightly recognised and the proposals will go some way in addressing the difficulties faced by many young people, particularly those approaching adulthood, and their families. We must safeguard children and young people cared for under the Act and ensure their rights are consistently upheld. Services should also work together and do what we can to prevent the escalation of needs in the first place, offer person-centred care and quality step-down provision in the community.
The Government must commit to taking the review’s recommendations forward and must appropriately resource services to implement these changes, including local authorities and community-based settings.
Professor Dame Sue Bailey – Chair of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition
Modernising the Mental Health Act – final report from the independent review
