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The UK Government has been planning changes to mental health legislation for at least eight years. On 23 March 2006, the Department of Health announced that many of these plans would proceed ‐ although through amendments to the 1983 Mental Health Act rather than a substantive Bill. These proposed reforms are significant but controversial. This paper sets out some of the reasons for welcoming the proposed changes. It is argued that the proposals to replace the responsible medical officer with a clinical supervisor are in keeping with best quality mental health care, and allow for proper multidisciplinary practice. Such an approach explicitly permits proper use of the skills and competencies of the workforce ‐ including psychologists. A second controversial aspect of the proposed reforms ‐ supervised community treatment orders, permitting compulsory care outside of hospitals ‐ represent not a violation of human rights, but a specific defence of ‘Article 8’ rights to protection of family and personal life. Finally, it is argued that the proposed amendments are important because mental health legislation dominates mental health care and the present 1983 Mental Health Act inappropriately consolidates the status of the medical model and the role of the responsible medical officer (and hence psychiatry). It is argued that the proposed changes are imperfect; in particular they lack inclusion of an ‘impaired judgement’ criterion, but it is suggested that necessary role and service redesign needs such amendments to allow the new ways of working programme to ‘bite’.

The purpose of this paper is to provide detailed assessments of the mental health laws of Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.

The mental health laws of four countries were assessed both by country partners and staff of WHO, Geneva, using the World Health Organization (WHO) Checklist on Mental Health Legislation, which examines the level of coverage of key issues in mental health laws.

The older laws of Ghana, Uganda and Zambia do not address fundamental human rights of people with mental health conditions. South Africa's more recent Mental Health Care Act (2002) incorporates critical human rights standards, though certain provisions fail to adequately safeguard against potential violations. For mental health legislation to maintain currency with human rights standards it must be regularly reviewed and updated.

The findings highlight the urgent need to revise the mental health laws of Zambia, Uganda and Ghana, and to plan ways to address the gaps identified in the relatively new South African mental health law. The entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008 signals a new era in how mental health legislation is to be drafted. The identification of gaps in national laws, as has been undertaken by the four countries, is an important first step towards putting in place legal frameworks to promote the rights of people with mental health conditions in line with current international human rights standards.

The purpose of this paper is to examine safeguarding adults reviews (SARs) that refer to mental health legislation in order to contribute to the review of English mental health law (2018).

Searches of a variety of sources were conducted to compile a list of relevant SARs. These are summarised and their contexts assessed for what they reveal about the use and coherence of mental health legislation.

The interaction of the statutes under consideration, in particular the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983, the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005, together with the Care Act 2014, presents challenges to practitioners and the efficacy of their application is variable.

In light of the absence of a duty to report SARs to a national register, it is possible that relevant SARs were missed in the search phase of this research, meaning that the results do not present a complete picture.

Examining cases where use of legislative provisions in mental health has been found wanting or legislation may not be easily implemented may inform initiatives to increase understanding of the law in this area.

This paper’s originality and value lie in its focus on mental health legislation as discussed in SARs at a time when both the MHA 1983 and the MCA 2005 are the focus of attention for reform.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the Law Commission’s final report and recommendations on the reform of the deprivation of liberty safeguards under the Mental Capacity Act.

Summary of main report.

The proposals contained in the Law Commision Review and proposals for law reform are outlined.

This is a summary.

This paper reports the first phase of a research project on mental health policy in Scotland that investigates the way knowledge is mobilised in the policy process. In this first phase of the project, the authors' concern has been to map the organisational domain of mental health policy in Scotland, paying attention to the form and structure of agencies and organisations as well as to the relationships between them. The paper describes a set of organisations in which central government is dominant but notes also a range of organisational forms and functions, and a diversity of sources of knowledge, expertise and information on which they draw. A dense network of linkages between agencies is identified.

The current role of the approved social worker (ASW) will be changed to that of the approved mental health practitioner, who may be a nurse or other mental health professional, if proposed legislation comes into force in England and Wales. This has implications for service users, carers and the mental health workforce. This article draws on literature and a conference discussing this change attended by practitioners and policy‐makers. It considers the complexity of the ASW role and the implications for the AMHP, and sets the related issues in the context of integrated working.

The purpose of the present study is to analyze highly cited articles and global research emphases and trends of law and psychiatry (L&P) research during the period of 1993 to 2012 from the Web of Science (WOS) database. Besides the analysis of highly cited articles to learn about the classic articles and intellectual base of the L&P research domain, an attempt is made to detect research emphases and trends of the study field.

The present study applies quantitative analyses of citations of scientific publications to find highly cited articles and summarizes research hotspots and trends on L&P research articles from WOS during 1993-2012 using statistical analysis of words in titles, KeyWords Plus, author keywords and co-keywords.

The top 21 highly cited articles of research on L&P were found; most of the highly cited papers used survey research to measure patterns of violence of psychiatric patients. This present study identified forensic psychiatry, mental health and criminal offenders were the continuing mainstream topics in the L&P field and risk assessment, risk factors and risk management of violent behavior, legislation for sexual offences, mental health courts, recidivism and expert testimony were recent research emphases and trends of the study field. On the contrary, psychiatric hospitalization, psychiatrist-patient, community and services were not mainstream topics in the study field and were of decreasing importance and popularity in L&P research. Additionally, the topics of violent behavior and risk assessment have developed to a significant subgroup of L&P research. Finally, research emphases and trends in the L&P field were found based on the co-keywords cluster map and density map.

This is the first study to quantify and detect research emphases and trends in L&P from the WOS during 1993-2012, which may provide the groundwork for future studies of the L&P research domain, and offer some important suggestions and implications for professional researchers, specialists, publications’ editors and public policy makers concerned with the domain.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the unique and independent role of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland.

The paper takes the reader through the history of the Commission, its changing status, roles and responsibilities, its influence and impact, and current priorities. It is based on details of the Commission ' s development, narrative from current employees and published investigations and advice.

The Mental Welfare Commission has advanced significantly since its original establishment. It plays a vital role in protecting the human rights of people in Scotland with learning disabilities and mental illness, by visiting those who are in receipt of care or treatment, investigating situations of concern, providing advice and guidance, monitoring the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 and Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and shaping relevant policy and legislation.

This paper provides an introduction to the work of the Commission, which will be of value to readers in Scotland and beyond. It illustrates its importance in preserving the rights of individuals with learning disabilities and mental illness in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other legislation.