Mental Health Act

The Society’s Mental Health Bill working party, under the aegis of the Professional Practice Board and chaired by John Taylor. A number of workstreams have been set up:

• political activity and liaison
• the Code of Practice
• issues of implementation and training (e.g. in relation to the Responsible Clinician role)
• updating professional practice guidelines in the light of any legislative changes.

The Revised Code of Practice and Secondary Legislation have been laid before Parliament. It is anticipated they will come into effect on Monday 3 November 2008. See documents below.

New roles under the Mental Health Act

The new Mental Health Act introduces two important new roles for mental health practitioners: the Approved Mental Health Practitioner and the Approved Clinician.

CSIP has set up a project to review and support the introduction of these new roles in mental health trusts and the independent sector. The aim of the MHA New Roles Early Implementation Project is to:

• conduct a review of trusts to identify those that are implementing the new roles
• visit early implementer trusts to profile their activity
• gather examples of policies, processes, procedures etc to be shared as templates
• produce a final report
• support and promote the sharing of good practice.

If you know of any activity within your trust or region to implement these roles, please contact the project co-ordinators.

Many thanks.

Teresa Hewitt-Moran Teresa.hewitt-moran@westmidlands.nhs.uk

Catherine Jackson cjackson@gotadsl.co.uk

Links

Department of Health - Mental Health Act

Documents

What's New in Mental Health