The Faculty of Public Health welcomes the Mental Health Bill and the significant reforms introduced to modernise mental health care and improve treatment for patients detained under the Mental Health Act.
The Bill introduces a stronger focus on dignity and patient voice, ensuring that people subject to detention have a greater involvement in decisions about their care and treatment.
A major and long-overdue reform is the removal of prison cells as places of safety for people experiencing a mental health crisis, with patients instead supported to access appropriate healthcare facilities.
As we welcome these reforms it is critical to recognise and address the significant inequalities associated with the use of the Mental Health Act. Black people living in the most deprived areas are nearly four times more likely to be sectioned, reflecting wider structural and social inequalities. Implementation of the Act must therefore go hand-in-hand with concerted action to tackle these disparities, including through measures such as the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework.
The Faculty of Public Health looks forward to supporting continued progress towards a fairer, more equitable mental health system that promotes better health for all.
