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Mental Health Bill [HL]

The noble Baroness described the situation for a patient under ideal circumstances. In my experience—and I have had quite a lot to do with mental hospitals during my lifetime—this is the poor relation of the hospital service. Very rarely do you get a continuation of doctors, let alone nurses or supporting staff, on wards. What would happen in a case like the one I illustrated, where most of the staff could hardly speak English? A few could, but most could not. The consultant, although probably very good, was not an English national. What happens in those situations? It cannot be satisfactory when the full staff are not there, and there is no one to note continuity in the patient’s records or behaviour.