Our recommendations
Recommendations for health and social care managers
1.Health and social care managers should identify the factors that lead to the use of Emergency Detention Certificates in their area and determine what actions they can take to reduce the impact of these factors. This should be reflected in psychiatric emergency plans.
2.Health and social care managers should ensure that there are policies and procedures in place which support the accurate recording, in the health record, of all contacts and the presence or absence of key individuals at care and treatment reviews or other relevant meetings.
3.Health service managers must ensure that all relevant staff are familiar with consent to treatment provisions in both mental health and incapacity legislation and provide training to meet any identified need.
4.Hospital managers must ensure that people who are detained get information about their rights, including rights of appeal, and that they are given help to retain and understand this information.
Recommendations for psychiatrists
5.Psychiatrists who are responsible medical officers must make sure that the need for compulsion is kept under review and decisions about whether to apply for compulsory treatment orders are made in good time and communicated to patients.
6.Responsible medical officers must ensure that they are familiar with the requirements of part 16 of the 2003 Act and part 5 of the Adults with Incapacity Act Scotland 2000.
Recommendations for the Scottish Government
7.The Scottish Government should examine the issues we have raised regarding named persons provisions when considering amendments to the 2003 Act. The issues are similar to those raised by the review committee.
8. The Scottish Government must ensure that training for approved medical practitioners addresses the requirements of part 16 of the Mental Health (Care & Treatment)(Scotland) Act 2003 and part 5 of the 2000 Act.
