Health Management and Policy Alert

Mental Health Bill: House of Lords, Committee of the whole House, 14, 20, 22 and 27 January 2025

NHS Providers - 

This briefing covers amendments tabled ahead of the Committee of the whole house up to and including 9 January 2025.

• Briefing
• More detail

Mental health services: the NHS trust perspective

NHS Providers - 

This briefing provides an outline of mental health services in the NHS, the current levels of demand that NHS trusts are facing and what trusts need in order to deliver a more proactive and co-ordinated community-based model of mental health care.

• Briefing
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Care beyond beds: exploring alternatives to hospital-based mental health care

Centre for Mental Health -
According to this report, an overhaul of mental health care is needed to achieve the Government’s goal of shifting treatment from hospitals to communities. It finds that inpatient care is too often characterised by unsafe levels of bed occupancy, chronic staffing shortages and dilapidated facilities which risk re-traumatising patients. Black people, neurodivergent people and children are among the most poorly served. It concludes that the NHS ten-year plan must boost investment across the mental health system to drive a ‘safe and sustained shift’ towards community care, and to provide inpatient care which is high quality, close to home and adequately staffed.

• Report
• Centre for Mental Health - press release

 

Exploring health and social care perspectives on the implementation of ‘Right Care, Right Person’, under the National Partnership Agreement

Partnership for Responsive Policy Analysis and Research (PREPARE) - 

‘Right Care, Right Person’ (RCRP) is a policy designed to end the inappropriate and avoidable involvement of police in responding to incidents involving people with mental health needs. This report from the University of York, York St John University and The King’s Fund explores the view of health and care staff on implementing the policy and the emerging impact on practice and care.

• Report
• Associated blog

Right Care, Right Person

Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) - 

Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) is an approach that is aimed at ensuring that people of all ages who have health and/or social care needs, are responded to by the right person, with the right skills, training, and experience to best meet their needs. Home Office and DHSC analysts evaluated the implementation of RCRP through a rapid process evaluation covering police, fire, health and social care services.

• Report
• More detail

 

Mental health inpatient settings: out of area placements

Health Services Safety Investigations Body -
This report finds that patients experience harm with the continued use of out of area placements for their mental health inpatient care. It explored what drives the need for out of area placements, and the impact on patients and families when they are placed far from their homes.

• Report
• Health Services Safety Investigations Body - news

Big mental health report 2024

Mind - 

This report brings together the latest evidence on the current state of the nation’s mental health and its mental health services, alongside insights from people with lived experience of mental health difficulties. It also takes a close look at how financial difficulties are impacting people’s mental health, the impact of stigma and discrimination, and the experiences of people living with severe mental illness.

• Report
• Press release

Mental health bill 2024: what you need to know

NHS Confederation -
The measures introduced in the 2024 mental health bill aim to give people greater control over their treatment and help ensure they receive the dignity and respect they deserve. This briefing gives a summary and analysis of the government manifesto commitment to modernise mental health legislation to give patients greater choice.

• Briefing

Mental Health Bill: memorandum on European Convention on Human Rights

Department of Health and Social Care -
This memorandum addresses issues arising under the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to the Mental Health Bill 2025, as introduced on 6 November 2024.

• Memorandum
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications

Mental Health Bill 2025: fact sheet

Department of Health and Social Care - 
This document provides more information on the Mental Health Bill, which was introduced in the House of Lords on 6 November 2024.

• Fact sheet
• Department of Health and Social Care - publications