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Mental Health Bill [Lords]

I cannot give way, because the debate has to finish soon. Concern has been expressed that a SOAD may not be capable of approving the treatment that may be given on recall, but I must reiterate that the SOAD’s review of medication in the community is not a mandate for the treating clinician to give that medication on recall come what may. The clinician will need to make an independent judgment about what treatment is necessary. Amendment No. 101 would achieve a further restriction, preventing the use of ECT where it is necessary to prevent a serious deterioration in the patient’s condition. We debated that point in Committee and I hope that the hon. Member for Southport (Dr. Pugh) recalls the arguments that were made, especially the example I gave of an anorexic patient, whose problems might not be immediately life-threatening, but could become so if the patient continued to refuse treatment. We cannot stand by and watch such things happen. The Government’s amendments on supervised community treatment address many of the concerns raised by my hon. Friends and the Opposition, and in the other place. Our proposals will make a real difference by clarifying the conditions; there must be a health benefit, or protection for the patient or the public. The amendments proposed by the Opposition would restrict the ability to use supervised community treatment, and would thus lead to harm to patients and, possibly, to the wider public.