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Mental Health Bill [HL]

I understand the noble Lord’s point. He is certainly right that the degree of specialisation in the health service generally has given rise to concerns about quality where clinicians do not have the specialist expertise. One of the problems of the treatability test is that it may have lessened that expertise, for the very reason that I gave and to which he referred. One of the negative impacts of the treatability test has been that it has held back the development of the personality disorder services generally. We think that the changes that the Bill makes will start to turn that around. There is no doubt that it has often left too many clinicians feeling reluctant, ill prepared or ill resourced to intervene to help people with personality disorders. We believe that changing the legal framework will provide a much sounder footing in order to put this right in the future.