New laws give psychiatric patients right to review

PSYCHIATRIC patients detained in hospital against their will have a right to an independent review of their case after long-awaited new laws came into force.

The final sections of the Mental Health Act 2001 were brought into effect yesterday — five years after they were promised — and provide for the setting up of mental health tribunals to look into the detentions of the 3,000 people a year who are involuntarily admitted to psychiatric hospitals.

Each tribunal will be made up of equal numbers of medical, legal and lay people and will review a patient’s case within 21 days of their admission. Each patient will also be automatically assigned a solicitor, or invited to privately engage one, and will undergo medical examination by an independent consultant.