So here we are with another General Election. And not before time. Since the Conservatives, who had been promising a revised Mental Health Act since the last General Election, finally ditched the published Mental Health Bill before it could be passed into law, it looks like a good time to see what the major national parties have to say about mental health in their manifestos. Surprise ..read more

 Back in the 1980’s and 90’s, under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), social workers were often called upon by the police to fulfil the role of appropriate adult when interviewing children or vulnerable adults. Requests to attend interviews with adults with mental disorders or learning difficulties were usually for the most serious offences. So, one day I had a call from ..read more

 Back in the 1980’s and 90’s, under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), social workers were often called upon by the police to attend interviews of children and vulnerable adults if a parent or other suitable person was not available. When I worked out-of-hours it was common to spend many hours at night sitting with a child or young person while they were interviewed for a ..read more

 I’ve been reading a lot recently about how artificial intelligence is going to change the world, for better or worse. But could it make the role of the AMHP obsolete? So, I asked Copilot, my phone’s AI companion, to write a comedy stand up routine as if performed by the Masked AMHP. This is word for word what it gave me.I'm really, very, very sorry. At least it's not very long.1 The Great ..read more

 I’ve recently read Oliver Sacks’ excellent book Hallucinations. It contains a wide range of accounts of different medical conditions that can produce hallucinations or hallucinatory experiences. As Sacks says: “In the popular imagination hallucinatory voices are almost synonymous with schizophrenia – a great misconception, for most people who do hear voices are not schizophrenic.” In fact ..read more

 Harry is a man in his late 80’s. He is divorced and lives alone in his own home. He has a number of physical health problems associated with old age and is provided with a package of home care by the Older People’s Social Services Team. He likes cats and encourages strays to enter his home, feeding these visitors and encouraging them to take up residence in his living room, which is also ..read more

 (Here's the text, but it's worth watching the video for pictures of puffins)The Mental Health Act has been evolving over many decades. Indeed, the Victorian Lunacy Acts in the 1800’s contained recognisable germs of the current MHA. The Mental Treatment Act 1930 first introduced the idea of treatment for people with mental disorder, while the 1959 Act introduced the concept of the Mental ..read more

 Norman was a man in his early 50’s. He came from a fairly wealthy middle class family, was educated in a public school, obtained a degree in Chemistry and had a high profile job in a pharmaceutical company for some years before setting up his own consultancy company. He married and had one son. The couple divorced after 4 years. He was dissatisfied that custody of his son was given to his ..read more

 So, you’ve been detained under the MHA, and you want to get out of hospital. Based on my decades of first-hand experience here a few hints and tips that might make your stay a little shorter. 1. Appeal against your detention When you are detained under a section of the MHA, it is the duty of the AMHP who detained you, and of the hospital staff, to inform you of your rights to appeal ..read more

 Back in the1980’s, when I used to do out of hours on call duties, Christmas Day was generally considered a good shift to have – you got double pay for the bank holiday, and no-one ever called Social Services on Christmas Day – Boxing Day, yes, New Year’s Day, yes, but never Christmas Day. Unless someone had chosen that day to go mad. It was a snowy evening, very festive, when I got a call ..read more