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Mental Health Bill [HL]

I support the amendments and the noble Earl, Lord Howe, in his presentation of them. This is perhaps the most crucial of the examples of valuable safeguards that we have lost through the withdrawal of the 2004 Bill, and it would be good to have them reintroduced here. I speak in particular from contact with chaplains within the mental health service and their own discussions about the use of ECT, its dangers and its desperately invasive nature, as well as the rare occasions on which it is, in their view, the appropriate way forward in treatment. I am aware of circumstances where ECT has indeed been very damaging to people, but also of those where it has been helpful. The chaplains to whom I have spoken have affirmed the need for consent as a crucial part of the use of ECT. When that consent is there, the patient goes along with the treatment, wants to be a part of it and provides their acceptance. Where that is lacking, the danger of ECT is even more considerable. I hope the Minister will be able to accept these amendments and this way forward in providing additional safeguards for those who are at a very difficult and damaging point of their lives because of their mental health.