More people with mental health problems are being made subject to compulsory care, says new report

Increasing numbers of people in England are being made subject to restrictions under the Mental Health Act, suggests a new report from The NHS Information Centre today.

The latest figures for 2009/10 show that 16,622 patients were detained in hospital at the end of the year, an increase of 3.4 per cent from last year.

Taken together with the number of people subject to Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) (3,325 at 31 March 2010), these figures highlight growing use of the Mental Health Act to address the needs of people with mental health problems.

The report, In-patients formally detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983 and patients subject to supervised community treatment, annual figures, England 2009/10, contains the first full year's figures about the use of supervised community treatment (SCT). Introduced in November 2008, the purpose of a CTO is to allow patients to continue their treatment in the community following discharge from hospital after a period of detention under the Mental Health Act. While on a CTO patients can, if necessary, be recalled to hospital for up to 72 hours, normally for further treatment.

The report shows:

  • There were 30,774 formal admissions to hospital, an increase of 7.3 per cent from 2008/09.
  • Whereas last year the increase in formal admissions was due to an increase in formal admissions to independent sector hospitals, this year's increase was solely due to an increase in formal admissions to NHS facilities.
  • Although the number of formal admissions to independent sector hospitals fell, the percentage of such admissions via the criminal justice system has been rising for the last four years and in the latest figures were 28 per cent of all formal admissions to independent sector hospitals. There is also evidence that more than 1,000 patients detained in independent sector hospitals at 31 March 2010 had been there for longer than one year.
  • There have been 6,237 orders made since the introduction of supervised community treatment in November 2008 of which 2,134 were in 2008/09 and the data show that just 1,965 (31.5 per cent) of these orders had ended (either via a revocation or a discharge) by 31 March 2010. This suggests some people are being kept on SCT for long periods of time.

Chief executive of The NHS Information Centre Tim Straughan said: “The report shows that growing numbers of people are being made subject to restrictions under the Mental Health Act either in the community or in hospital.

“It reveals the changing use of the private sector in the care of people who are subject to the Act and also gives an early insight in the use of the new Community Treatment Orders.”

The report can be accessed at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/inpatientdetmha0910

ENDS

Notes to editors

  1. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care (The NHS IC) is England's authoritative, central, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researcher, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS IC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
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