Your rights and mental health legislation
Mental health legislation in Wales and the UK runs to thousands of pages and can be impossible to follow without a law degree. However there are many resources that can help you find out what your rights are, and what you are entitled to when you use mental health services. Below are a few that we have collated for you.
Rights
Read about the Mental Health Act: https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/social-care-and-your-rights/mental-health-and-the-law/mental-health-act-easy-read/
Advocacy in Powys
Advocacy is “taking action to help people say what they want, secure their rights, and obtain the services they need.
The three different advocacy roles in Powys:
Independent Mental Health Advocate – IMHA
IMHAs provide advocacy to people who are “qualifying compulsory patients” or “qualifying informal patients” under the Mental Health Act 1983. This includes people detained on a mental health inpatient ward such as Felindre Ward in Powys.
Your local IMHA service can be contacted using the following details:
Phone: 01745 813 999
Email: admin@cadmhas.co.uk
Website: www.camhas.co.uk
Independent Mental Capacity Advocate – IMCA
IMCAs provide advocacy for people who lack capacity to make certain decisions and have no one to support and represent them.
Your local Independent Mental Capacity Advocates can be contacted using the following details:
Lynda Evans, North Powys Mental Health Advocates for under 65’s
C/o Newtown Hospital, Llanfair Road, Newtown, Powys, SY16 2DW
Mob: 07736 120924
Email: lynda.evans3@wales.nhs.uk
Linda Woodward, North Powys Mental Health Advocates for over 65’s
C/o Newtown Hospital, Llanfair Road, Newtown, Powys, SY16 2DW
Mob: 07974 935355
Email: linda.woodward2@wales.nhs.uk
Community Mental Health Advocate
People in contact with statutory mental health services (Community Mental Health or Crisis Resolution & Home Treatment Teams) from age 18 and over in Powys are entitled to receive support from a Community MH Advocate if they wish.
Your local Community Mental Health Advocates can be contacted using the following details:
Kirstie Morgan, South Powys Mental Health Advocate
Neuadd Brycheiniog, Cambrian Way, Brecon, Powys, LD3 7HR
Mob: 07967 808145
Email: kirstie.morgan@wales.nhs.uk
Lynda Evans, North Powys Mental Health Advocates for under 65’s
C/o Newtown Hospital, Llanfair Road, Newtown, Powys, SY16 2DW
Mob: 07736 120924
Email: lynda.evans3@wales.nhs.uk
Linda Woodward, North Powys Mental Health Advocates for over 65’s
C/o Newtown Hospital, Llanfair Road, Newtown, Powys, SY16 2DW
Mob: 07974 935355
Email: linda.woodward2@wales.nhs.uk
You can find out more about the different advocacy roles in Wales, and how the advocates can help, on this Mind website page.
Llais – your voice in health and social care
Llais provides a free, confidential and independent complaints advocacy service for people who want help raising concerns about health and social care services. More here.
Sectioning - Sections 135 & 136
Know your rights when it comes to the powers that the police have in relation to detention.
What’s the difference:
Both the 135 and 136 deal with the police powers to detain you and take you to a place of safety if there is reasonable cause to believe that you are mentally unwell AND pose a threat to yourself or others.
A Section 135 would be used if a person was unwell in their own home, whilst a Section 136 is used in situations outside of a private home.
Section 135:
A Section 135 is used to allow the police to enter your home and take you to a place of safety. There must be a warrant obtained from a magistrates court by an approved mental health professional (AMHP) to allow them to do this. The police could then take you to a designated place of safety.
Section 136:
A Section 136 allows the police to detain and take you to a place of safety if you are outside of a private home. They must have consulted an AMHP, registered medical professional , nurse, occupational therapist or a parmedic beforehand.
Place of Safety:
A place of safety can be:
- a hospital
- a care home
- a police station
- your or someone else’s home or room
- other suitable premises where the manager of those premises agrees.
In Powys, there is a designated specialist Section 136 suite at Bronllys Hospital. In most circumstances you would be taken here, but it may be one of the other places specified depending on circumstances.
Once you are in a place of safety you can be kept there for up to 24 hours to be assessed, which can be extended by another 12 hours if it has not been possible to make an assessment in the first 24 hours.
Your home or room can only be used as a place of safety if you agree and, if you live with other people, they agree too. Someone else’s home or room can only be used if you both agree.
A police station can only be used as a place of safety if your behaviour poses an imminent risk of serious injury or death to yourself or another person. The decision must be authorised by an inspector after consulting with a registered medical practitioner, a registered nurse, an appropriate healthcare practitioner, an occupational therapist or a paramedic.
Crisis Care Forum
Crisis Care Forum
In Powys, there is a Crisis Care Forum which is composed of the various agencies who may come into contact with someone who is being sectioned, for example the Police, Ambulance Service, Medical staff and a service user representative. They meet four times a year to look at case studies and statistics regarding instances of Section 135 and 136 in Powys to ensure that regulations are followed.
To find out more about this group please email owen.griffkin@pavo.org.uk