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Mental Health Bill [HL]

I support this amendment. I remind the Committee of the wording of the recommendation from the Joint Scrutiny Committee. Our report pointed out that people with learning disabilities or communicative disorders should be, "““liable for compulsory treatment under the Bill only if they display seriously aggressive or severely irresponsible behaviour as a result of their condition and if such treatment as is properly and reasonably required can only be provided to such patients under conditions of compulsion””." That last condition is present in the Bill as it is currently drafted. That is why this amendment is so important. Our discussion and the difficulties raised are very much underpinned by the problem of the principles not being stated in the Bill. This is all about correct diagnosis, as the anecdotes have so clearly illustrated. If someone with a learning disability also has a mental disorder it is appropriate for the Act to kick in and for compulsion to be used, if that is the only way that that mental disorder can be treated. However, under the Mental Capacity Act, if someone with a learning disability does not also have a mental disorder, but does not have the capacity, they can in any case be provided with the care and treatment that is in their best interest under that Act. For those people who do not have a mental disorder that requires treatment and for the patient who is not accepting treatment for a mental disorder, the trigger of accurate diagnosis is key. Without that, all the groups—such as the United Kingdom Disabled People’s Council and the other groups that have made representations on this clause—will have their fears enhanced, not decreased, as this Bill goes through. The other problem with people’s fears being enhanced is that they are less likely to access care and treatment early, when they need it and when intervention is much less. When problems escalate, they become greater and more difficult to deal with.