The Mental Health Act 2007 updated the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The recent amendments to the 2007 Act provide clarity in the legal criteria for the use of compulsion, and better safeguards for mental health service users, with new rights to advocacy, the ability to displace their nearest relative and the right to refuse electro-convulsive therapy.
This Briefing outlines the key points of the new legislation and sets out what trust boards need to do to implement it and the timescales for doing so.
Briefing 171.