Mental patients ‘being denied rights’

THE Government is denying people who are detained against their will in mental institutions their rights, according to the State’s official human rights watchdog.

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) said key sections of legislation passed some four years ago had still not been implemented.

The Mental Health Act 2001 provided for the establishment of Mental Health Tribunals to review the involuntary admission of a person to a psychiatric unit or hospital.