Rt Hon. Rishi Sunak MP
Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is the leader of the government.
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA
26th October 2023
Dear Prime Minister
We call on you to introduce the Mental Health Bill and make it
law
Laws are the rules that everyone in the country has to follow. If you don't follow the rules you can get in trouble with the police.
as a matter of urgency, in line with
the government
The Government are the people who run the country. They decide how much tax people should pay for things and how things like the National Health Service should work.
's promise to reform the outdated Mental Health Act.
More than 2,000 autistic people and people with a learning disability A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things. are currently detained in inpatient mental health hospitals, where the average length of stay is more than 5 years.
Patients are subjected to physical restraint, seclusion and segregation and the use of anti-psychotic medication – practices that are deeply harmful and can create lifelong trauma.
The government needs to bring in the Mental Health Bill and make it law, so that:
Autistic people and people with learning disabilities cannot be detained in a mental health hospital under Section 3 of the Mental Health Act solely on the basis of having a learning disability or autism
Autism is a disability. Autistic people find it difficult to understand what other people think and feel. They also find it difficult to tell people what they think and feel. Everyone with autism is different.
(without a co-occurring mental health condition). There is a strong duty to provide enough community A community is the people and places in an area. services to autistic people and people with a learning disability to prevent them from reaching crisis point, and ensure those in hospital can be discharged in a timely way.
Recommendations from Care, Education Education is when you learn things. When you fill in a form to get a job, education means you write where you went to school, college or university. and Treatment Reviews actions are made enforceable, so people can be discharged from hospitals sooner.
We cannot continue with the current position, with outdated mental health law allowing and facilitating the ongoing detention and institutionalisation of disabled people who do not have a mental health condition.
The government’s welcome proposals in the draft Bill need to be strengthened in response to the Joint Committee’s recommendations and the Bill introduced and made law urgently.
This change is also vital to ensure the government fulfils its 2019 manifesto commitment to “make it easier for people with learning disabilities and autism to be discharged from hospital and improve how they are treated in law.”
Reforming the Mental Health Act is central to the Building the Right Support Action Plan, the government’s plan to stop the inappropriate detention of people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals and ensure they get the right support in the community.
Enacting the promised changes to the Mental Health Act is essential to achieve – and go beyond – the planned 50% reduction in inpatient numbers of autistic people and people with a learning disability that is set out in the NHS The NHS is the National Health Service. The NHS gives free healthcare to everyone in the UK and includes things like your GP (doctors) surgery and hospitals. Long Term Plan and re-committed to in the Building the Right Support Action Plan.
Recent research Research is a way of finding out information which could come from books, or asking people what they think. by Mencap showed that at the current pace of change the March 2024 commitment to reduce inpatient numbers by 50% will not be achieved until November 2028 at the earliest.
Analysis by the National Autistic Society shows that instead of going down, the number of autistic people in these hospitals has increased.
This situation is not acceptable, but it is fixable – and only underlines the urgency of moving forward with change to the law.
While we wait, the government is aware that autistic people and people with a learning disability continue to be admitted to inpatient units, miles away from family, where they will become stuck without access to appropriate support in an environment that can't meet their needs and causes them harm.
Knowingly allowing this to happen is indefensible. For these pressing reasons, the government must deliver on its commitment to pass a Mental Health Act that is fit for the 21st century within the next parliamentary session – we do not have time to wait.
Yours sincerely,
Mencap, National Autistic Society, the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, VoiceAbility, and 18,234 signed supporters
