Calls to reform mental health detainment law

THE former head of the Mental Health Commission has said we need to radically look at the way in which people are detained against their will in this country.

Hugh Kane, who retired from the commission last year, said while there will always be a need for a small minority of people to be brought into hospital when they don’t want to go, it is far from an ideal way to go about treating someone.

“When you are trying to intervene therapeutically with someone, using force is not the best way to go about it. While we do have more protection than we once did with tribunals, the review of the Mental Health Act next year needs to look at this from a human rights point of view,” he said.