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Mental Health Bill [HL]

I rise briefly to support my noble friend who spoke extremely powerfully on an issue which it is not difficult to regard as highly emotive. I congratulate her on having championed it in the way that she has. It is hard to escape the view that there is a very real problem in many of our hospitals of the kind she has described, much as some may not want to confront the fact. We should all rightly be most concerned about it. I was appalled by the incidents which she described. Her amendments make it quite clear that food and drink should never in any circumstances be classified as medical treatment. I agree with that. In fact, up to this point, or rather up to the point when my noble friend raised the matter at Second Reading, I had always taken it that food and drink could not possibly be counted as medical treatment. By food and drink, I mean ordinary food and drink such as normal healthy individuals might consume by mouth. I do not want to put my noble friend to undue trouble but it would be helpful, if she has the information to hand, if she could tell the Committee a little more about the ruling by the GMC that has given rise to the need to make the distinction she is drawing. I seek to be helpful to my noble friend but it is my belief that the Mental Capacity Act is not yet fully in force. Will the Minister confirm that? I very much hope that he will acknowledge the seriousness of the issues which my noble friend has raised in her amendments and that something tangible and positive can be done to address them.