Patients Aren't Told About Their Rights.

Yes, patients have a right to oppose their detention. But most patients aren't told what their rights are, says Alison Kerry, Mind's Head of Media. Alison was sent a copy of the Manifesto and said that Mind often get calls from patients on section. They call because they've lost their liberty and don't know that they're entitled to legal representation and a tribunal hearing should they want it. And this is an issue I've brought up before.

When I was in hospital in 2001, I was active in the User movement and was employed to advise senior managers and nurses. I met a Department of Health executive at a meeting and asked him if we could meet. He agreed and we made an arrangement to meet up in Bristol. By the time the meeting came round, I was in hospital going through an episode of illness. I was a voluntary patient. I had written down on a sheet of paper all the things I wanted to say, one of them being that patients aren't read their rights when they are interned in hospital. Even criminals get read their rights, I told him. He agreed.

The fact is patients should get read their rights at the moment they get sectioned, plus a referral to a tribunal or mental health act managers review should be automatic. It isn't right that someone going through the worst times of their lives should be left to defend their own rights and should be left ringing round the charity legal advise lines trying to get to grips with how they might defend themselves.

Mental Health Manifesto

I am about to publish the Mental Health Manifesto, which calls for more rights including Habeas Corpus for mentally unwell people detained in the UK. This came about because the UN declared the practicies of dentention without trial and forced treatment unlawful.

I have been contacting people for comment on this document, which can now be purchased in print form here:

As part of this process I have contacted Liberty and Justice for their comments, but they have not yet got back to me.

However, I did speak to Professor Peter Beresford, who is the Chairman of The Centre for Citizen Participation and has been appointed to the Department of Health Policy Research Programme. He says that Civil Liberties groups take little or no interest in Mental Health issues, despite the gaping hole in human rights for the mentally ill. He also says that he sometimes feels that patients would be better off taking their chances with the criminal law, than mental health law, because mental health law is so open to abuse.