Mental Health Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 53: 53: After Clause 36 , insert the following new Clause— ““Right to move hospital After section 19 of the 1983 Act (regulations as to transfer of patients) insert— ““19A Right to move hospital (1) All patients and their families must be informed that a patient can apply to move from one hospital to another if there is a good reason to do so, taking into account their family, cultural or medical needs and wishes. (2) All applications by patients shall be recorded. (3) If an application is refused reasons shall be provided to the patient in writing and, subject to the wishes of the patient, to the nearest relative and any relatives (as defined in section 26) as he shall specify.”””” The noble Earl said: The amendment brings us back to an issue to which we have referred a number of times during Committee; namely, the particular difficulties encountered by mental health patients from black and ethnic minority communities. Inequality in mental health services between black people and the majority white population has been the subject of debate and study for decades. It is well documented that people from BME communities, African and Caribbean people in particular, fare worse under the British mental health system than under many others. Most ethnic minorities tend to live in cities, but patients from ethnic minorities are often transferred to hospitals in rural areas, where there are very few black staff, which often leads to black patients feeling alienated. A black patient who has lived in an urban area all his life and who is then transferred to a remote rural hospital could well find it alienating and frightening, especially as staffing in rural areas is rarely diverse. Recommendation 19 of the report of the David Bennett inquiry stated: "““All psychiatric patients and their families should be made aware that patients can apply to move from one hospital to another for good reason, which would include such matters as easier access by their family, a greater ethnic mix, or a reasoned application to be treated by other doctors. All such applications should be recorded. They should not be refused without providing the applicant and their family with a written reason””." The Government accepted this recommendation and made it a priority policy area in their response to the Bennett inquiry report and in the Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care action plan, published in January 2005. However, since its publication, the action plan has been beset with controversy, not least because the £16 million allocated for the implementation of the programme has not reached targets set out in the report. Prompted by the Mental Health Alliance, I therefore propose that this provision should be set out in statute to ensure that it is prioritised by policy makers. It is also crucial that the right to move hospital is clearly stated in the Mental Health Act to ensure that clinicians and hospital managers are left in no doubt that it has statutory force which must be followed. The Government’s response accepted in principle that every request should be considered carefully and receive a reasoned response that takes into account the needs of the service user and their assessed best interests. A BME patient's wish to be close to their family, or to be cared for in a more ethnically mixed environment, should be listened to, recorded and met unless there is a good reason not to meet it. It is good practice for refusal to be explained in writing. That is the simple purpose of this amendment. I beg to move.