Tim Spencer-Lane reports on a ground-breaking Mental Health Bill
In England and Wales, as in most jurisdictions, the non-consensual care and treatment of those with mental health problems is governed largely by two parallel legal schemes. The Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA 1983) provides for the care and treatment of those suffering from “mental disorder”, irrespective of whether they have capacity or not, while the Mental Capacity Act 2005 applies only to those who lack capacity and enables care and treatment for mental and physical health conditions.
NI proposals
However, in Northern Ireland radical new proposals have been published to fuse together mental health and mental capacity law into a single legislative framework. The draft Mental Capacity Bill, if implemented, would mean that for the first time anywhere, there would be a single statute governing all decision-making in relation to the care, treatment (for a physical or mental illness) or personal welfare of a person aged 16 or over, who lacks capacity to make a specific decision. This would mean that the current Mental Health (NI) Order 1986 (the equivalent of MHA 1983) will
