Charter for Consensual Treatment

Citation

(2001), "Charter for Consensual Treatment", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 14 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2001.06214gab.014

Charter for Consensual Treatment

Charter for Consensual Treatment

In a bid to step up pressure on the Government to keep mental health high on the political agenda, the Mental Health Alliance in the UK has launched a Charter for Consensual Treatment. It sets out what the Alliance believes is necessary to reverse the rising trend in the use of compulsion.

The Mental Health Alliance agrees with the part of the Government's White Paper that states that a new Mental Health Act should "reduce, wherever possible, the number of individuals who are subject to the use of powers for compulsory care and treatment." Despite the omission of a Mental Health Bill in the Queen's Speech, the Alliance is determined to push for a new Act which meets the needs of people with mental health problems, carers and professionals at the earliest opportunity. Campaigners will be calling on MPs, users of mental health services, professionals and members of the public to sign up to the Charter in their numbers, to show Government the strength of support in favour of a more inclusive Mental Health Act.

The Alliance is also publishing a new report, Care before Compulsion. This details the rise in the use of compulsory treatment in recent years and spells out why a new Mental Health Act should work to reduce coercion for the majority of people with mental health problems and how it could be achieved.

For further information: Copies of the report, Care before Compulsion, are available from the Mental Health Alliance, c/o The Mental Health Foundation. Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7535 7441 or Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7535 7474, price £5 plus p&p.