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Mental Health Bill [HL]

I apologise for speaking and thereby lengthening the debate at this stage of the evening, but in my view these amendments are among the most important to this Bill. They are consistent with the views of the joint scrutiny committee. It was our view that it was self-evident, as well as being a matter of evidence, that young people should be in age-appropriate facilities and that they should have doctors who are experienced in treating young people. I want to reflect for a moment on my very close observations some 10 years ago of a young girl who went into a hospital suffering from serious depression and anorexia. On the advice of a reputable consultant—this was not in the countryside, but in London—she was sent to an adult unit. There she was treated heavily with drugs. After about four months, and as a result of parental demands made by parents who in the early stages were completely ignorant of the mental health sector, she was moved in a stupefied state to the adolescent unit at the Bethlem hospital, part of the Maudsley hospital. Some time later, the consultant who had professed expertise in treating that girl, though not a specialist CAMHS doctor, was suspended by the General Medical Council for sexual impropriety with a young female adult patient. The life of that girl was saved in the CAMHS unit at the Bethlem hospital because she was treated in an age-appropriate environment by highly specialist consultants with enormous skills. She emerged from that unit to receive outpatient treatment, and was given the early stages of that by a CAMHS specialist consultant. Unfortunately, he too was disciplined at a later stage by the General Medical Council for inappropriate sexual conduct—in this case, toward young female patients. I can, if necessary, provide every detail of that story, having observed it at the closest quarters possible. It shows how dangerous it can be for anything other than the closest scrutiny—at an age-appropriate and place-appropriate level—to be put upon every single case involving a child. In many cases, teenagers who face the kind of situation I described are mature in some ways, but extremely immature in others. It emphasises the importance of them having age-appropriate treatment in all respects. The noble Lord, Lord Patel of Bradford, gave us a helpful catalogue in summary form—I am sure that it could have lasted for volumes, or hours—of other cases bearing out the example that I observed at such close quarters and was describing. I would be completely content if, 10 years after the events I describe, having made my observations, I could sense any comfort or feel that things have improved as a result of what people who scrutinise these matters daily—like the noble Lord, Lord Patel, or Sir Albert Aynsley-Green, the Children’s Commissioner—may say. I see absolutely no evidence of that improvement. If we are serious as legislators in the lip-service that we give to having the interests of adolescent, mentally ill children at heart then we have to do something about it. The one thing we could do is to place a statutory obligation on the services—not just targets, but statutory obligations—about dealing with children in settings and with medical care that are both age-appropriate. Of course, there will be emergency circumstances. The Joint Scrutiny Committee dealt clearly with that by providing a solution to emergency circumstances. For example, if a child in rural mid-Wales becomes acutely mentally ill, it may take a day or two to put them in a suitable hospital environment. But surely, that it should take more than a day or two could never be justified. I shall be extremely disappointed if we have nothing more than an anodyne response on this issue. The power of this debate has been strong, and there has been unanimity around the Chamber, which, as I said, confirmed that of the joint scrutiny committee. I hope that we shall hear a positive response.