Mental Health Bill [HL]

On the first point, I will write to the noble Baroness with the information that I have available on the kind of example that I have quoted. I guess that, of course, the detention of patients is subject to legislation. Therefore, there are always potential challenges for how the Act operates. I certainly would not want to run away from that. The test of appropriateness is already contained in the 1983 Act, and the noble Baroness will have seen the draft code on which we welcome evidence as to how appropriateness will be judged. Obviously, clinicians will need to use their own professional judgment within that. None the less, we believe that the test of appropriateness, which is contained in the Bill, will be a more satisfactory test. It will provide a better foundation, and it will avoid the situation where patients—members of the public—are not getting the treatment that they ought to receive because of the perverse way that the treatability test has operated. Time moves on and I should probably stop there. I just want to finish by saying that I do want to come back to my original comments. This clearly goes to the heart of this Bill—no question about that. I hope that the noble Lords will not be in any doubt that it is my and the Government’s intention to use this Bill as a foundation for ensuring public/patient safety, and a better foundation for improving services in future. I really do think that the fears raised tonight about the appropriate treatment test are unfounded. It is not about social control and it is not about pushing far more people into detention—it is about actually ensuring that we do provide more appropriate services.