Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the words of the noble Earl, Lord Howe, who has made a strong case for why three months is simply too long. I want to add just a couple of points to his remarks. First, those of us who have been in professional practice or have chaired NHS trusts have experience of what can only be described as ““macho prescribing””. People are prescribing at doses above the BNF recommendation. Patients have a real fear of that and it is one of the reasons why a review after a month rather than three months is something we ought to press for very hard. My second point is one that we have considered in the context of a whole variety of issues as we have debated the Bill: we are concerned about public safety. If patients are frightened of the treatment they may receive, they are less likely to seek it. If they feel that they will be treated compulsorily, they will become even more anxious if that treatment is not reviewed with a second opinion after one month rather than three months. All this will be going on for too long and that makes people more fearful. The more fearful they are, the less likely they are to seek early treatment and the more likely it is that they will fall into the compulsory net. The circle then goes around all over again. Simply to add to the words of the noble Earl, Lord Howe, we need to think hard not only about the opinion of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, but also about the effect on patients and how they feel about this. We must consider how in the longer term they will accept treatment, either voluntarily or compulsorily.