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Ministers are urged to finally implement legislation limiting the use of dangerous restraint practices against patients in mental health units two years after it was passed.
Labor, two former mental health ministers and the heads of charities have called for an end to the “unusually long wait” for the introduction of revolutionary laws.
They wrote to Nadine Dorries, the minister of mental health, asking her to stop the inexplicable delay of the entry into force of the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018. The new legislation usually takes effect within a few weeks of obtaining parliamentary approval.
Mental health experts, police and politicians from all sides welcomed the legislation when parliament passed it in 2018. It was intended to curb the use of restraints that have led to trauma, serious injury and death between people with mental health problems.
Young black men were disproportionately subjected to controversial and violent restraint techniques, evidence shows. The legislation is commonly known as “Seni’s Law” after Olaseni Lewis, a 23-year-old black man, died in London’s Bethlem Royal Psychiatric Hospital in September after being held by 11 police officers.
An investigation into his death heard how the graduate, who had no history of mental illness, died face down in the unit after police handcuffed his hands behind his back, put shackles on his chains and took turns to sit on him. He had a heart attack, went into a coma and died.
“The use of force against people with mental health problems is a national scandal,” said Steve Reed, secretary of Labor shadow communities, who was Lewis’ deputy in Croydon North. He took the legislation through the House of Commons as a private member’s bill.
“Parliament passed legislation to end these abuses against mental health patients, but two years later it still hasn’t come into effect because the government has failed to provoke it.
“If the government truly cares about the safety of mental health patients, ministers need to get the Seni Act into effect without further delay,” Reed added.
Lewis’s parents, Aji and Conrad, signed the letter, as did Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price, Mental Health Minister under Theresa May, and Sir Norman Lamb, the former Liberal Democrat Mental Health Minister in the coalition government in 2012- 15.
Other signatories include Prof Sir Simon Wessely, a former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists who undertook a revision of the Mental Health Act for May’s government, and Paul Farmer, the managing director of the Mind charity, who chaired a NHS Task Force in Mental Health.
Legislation requires psychiatric units to reduce and record the use of restraint against patients and to train their staff to use escalation reduction techniques instead of defusing difficult situations.
The letter comes weeks after the heads of mental health trusts in England accused Boris Johnson’s government of “structural discrimination” and a lack of interest in mental health after years of progress under previous administrations.
The Department of Health and Social Care did not explain the delay. He said he would seek views on statutory guidelines for the legislation, suggesting that it would be enacted.
A spokesperson said: “Treating and caring for people in a safe and compassionate environment is essential and the government has fully supported during the passage of the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act and is committed to publishing the statutory guidelines on the law for consultation as soon as possible “.
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