Mental health tribunals to go ahead

PSYCHIATRIC patients kept in hospitals against their will have been granted the right to independent review of their detention under a radical overhaul of the mental health system.

From November, any person involuntarily admitted to a psychiatric unit will automatically have their case examined by new Mental Health Tribunals made up of equal numbers of psychiatrists, lawyers and lay people.

The move, promised in the Mental Health Act of 2001 but not implemented to date, will have a direct impact on almost 3,000 people involuntarily admitted as inpatients each year. They represent about 15% of all patients in psychiatric units.