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Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, the problem with the route that the noble Baroness is taking is that if a responsible clinician, subject to approval by the approved mental health practitioner, cannot take certain decisions in relation to a community treatment order, you undermine the role of that clinician. I do not want to be pushed into a corner and give a definite statement in response to an instance that she has given, but my general understanding is that, in the kind of situations that she has described, a consultant psychiatrist is the most likely responsible clinician. My problem with the amendment is that it is saying in essence that the responsible clinician cannot in the end accept responsibility. I have received a number of comments from bodies such as the British Psychological Society and the Royal College of Nursing, as well as from a consultant psychiatrist, expressing concern that, however much the amendment as proposed is well intentioned, its ultimate impact will be to undermine the whole concept of the responsible clinician who in the end has to accept responsibility.