Labour pledge reform of mental health care
Labour has promised to revive reforms to mental health laws should it win the next general election, after the plans were dropped from last week’s King’s Speech, dismaying charities.
Reforms to the Mental Health Act were promised in the Conservatives’ 2017 and 2019 manifestos, but the required legislation will not be passed in this parliament. The planned changes would have addressed inequalities that leave black people four times more likely to be detained under the act and would have given patients’ choices greater weight.
They also would have made it easier for people with learning disabilities and autism to be discharged from hospital. At present such people can be sectioned under mental health legislation, despite having no mental health condition, and more than 2,000 are
