Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, we have had an excellent short debate on these matters introduced by the noble Baroness, Lady Murphy. I am very grateful for the warm support—the partially warm support—of noble Lords on these amendments. In Committee, my noble friend Lord Hunt indicated that we would consider further the question of allowing patients subject to compulsion to refuse consent to the use of ECT in non-emergency situations, and we have done just that. We accept that there is a persuasive argument for providing that a patient should have their refusal respected when they are capable of understanding the nature, purpose and likely effects of being treated with ECT and refuse to consent to that treatment. Your Lordships will note that our new Section 58A is subject to the urgent treatment provision in Section 62 of the Act. I will return to that later. Amendment No. 15 also proposes a new Section 58A; for ease, I will refer in future to the Government’s new Section 58A, or new Section 58A of Amendment No. 15. I believe that the Government’s amendments achieve all that is in Amendment No. 14, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, but with some additional elements. Our amendment is in line with Sections 57 and 58 in that they do not make any distinction based on the age of the patient. With regards to a patient who is capable of understanding the nature, purpose and likely effects of ECT and agrees to being treated with it, we will require the approved clinician in charge of the patient’s treatment to certify that the patient is so capable and has consented to the treatment before it can be given. Similarly, Amendment No. 31 provides that the Government’s new Section 58A will be subject to Section 60. There is an important difference of language between Amendments Nos. 30 and 14. The latter requires a SOAD to certify not merely that treatment is appropriate but that it is necessary. In practice, there may be little difference. Generally, ECT will not be appropriate except where it can also be said to be necessary, but to make the test one of necessity in all cases would not be welcome to those patients who actually have a preference for it over other methods of treatment. A preference for ECT may be known from previous episodes of treatment or from an advanced statement. The Mental Capacity Act provides for the making of an advanced decision to refuse treatment. Under the Government’s new Section 58A, a valid and applicable advanced decision to refuse treatment with ECT must be respected where the patient lacks the capacity to consent at the time the treatment is being proposed. If a patient has granted a lasting power of attorney and that power is made in such a way as to allow the attorney to take decisions on the person’s behalf about relevant treatments then, where that attorney refuses consent to the treatment, that refusal must be respected as if the patient had capacity to consent but was refusing to do so. The situation would be the same in the unlikely, but not impossible, circumstance where the Court of Protection appointed a deputy with authority to refuse treatment on the patient’s behalf. It is also the case that the Court of Protection or another court with appropriate jurisdiction—for example, with regard to children—can decide that treatment should not be given to a patient who cannot consent to it. Our provision deals with all these matters expressly and I think that Amendments Nos. 14 and 15 would be more comprehensible if they had done likewise. We have considered Amendments Nos. 15 and 16, which respectively address additional safeguards in relation to ECT for patients under 18 and limitations on the provision of urgent treatment with ECT. My noble friend Lord Hunt said in Committee that the Government would also consider these matters further. We have given much thought to them, but I must say that there are many complicated issues to which we need to give further thought. Amendment No. 15 provides for additional safeguards for patients under the age of 18 for whom ECT has been proposed as a treatment for their mental disorder. There are complicated issues of clinical practice and law here and I regret that we still need more time to get this very important aspect of the need for specific safeguards for children who are to be treated with ECT absolutely right before we respond. Some of the complications are illustrated by the noble Baroness’s amendment. We need to be sure that we do not restrict clinical practice to the point where clinicians will be denied a legitimate intervention to protect very ill children for whom ECT is, very exceptionally, the best option. We also need to be careful in deciding to whom we give rights to make decisions about the treatment of a child who cannot consent himself or herself. Amendment No. 15 would provide that where the patient under 18 was incapable of consenting to ECT, a person with parental authority must first consent to the treatment being given, unless there was a court order that the treatment be given. We are not convinced that the right approach is to provide that a parent must first consent before a SOAD can authorise treatment or, failing that, that a court must make an order for the treatment to go ahead. We accept that a child patient who is incapable of consenting to ECT should be provided for in such a way that a refusal to that treatment can be made on their behalf. I would suggest that the courts already provide the right arena to consider these issues. I hope that this gives noble Lords a flavour of the very difficult issues with which we are still grappling. I do understand the concerns expressed in relation to children and young people but I cannot agree to the sort of composite amendment suggested by the right reverend Prelate. However, I can assure noble Lords that the Government will return to these matters when the Bill is considered in another place. The Government amendment provides that Section 58A would be subject to Section 62. We will consider the criteria that must be met for urgent treatment with ECT. Amendment No. 16, by amending Section 62, would restrict the provision of ECT to detained patients without a SOAD certificate in urgent situations to those circumstances where it was required immediately to save a patient’s life. In the previous debate in Committee, my noble friend Lord Hunt expressed concern that that was too restrictive. I am concerned that the amendment will prevent a patient whose need is not yet life saving, but whose condition, as it is, risks their suffering irreversible effects if treatment is not provided urgently. I understand the concerns behind the amendment and I share the desire that a provision for the urgent treatment of a patient without a statutory second doctor’s approval should not be used to bypass the usual provisions for a safeguard that requires a capable patient to give consent and requires certification of a second-opinion appointed doctor when the capability of giving consent is lacking. A balance must be struck here. Clinicians should not be denied the ability to provide the right treatment to their patients, especially when that treatment would save the patient’s life or prevent serious deterioration in their condition. Of course I have listened to the views of the noble Baroness, Lady Murphy, but the Government believe that there must be the balance I mentioned. The Government are not convinced that Amendment No. 16 strikes that right balance, but, equally, we see that there are powerful arguments against ECT being permitted in all four cases generally allowed by Section 62. Amendment No. 85 provides for any certificate that authorises treatment with ECT for a patient who is refusing consent before the enactment to cease to apply on enactment. It cannot be right that a consent-capable patient refusing ECT can still be given ECT compulsorily because the treatment was certified before the law changed. Noble Lords have made it clear that they consider the requirement that consent be given before ECT is provided to a patient who is capable of giving that consent should fall into that category. In the light of that, we have been persuaded to bring forward these amendments and to pursue consideration of the other issues that I mentioned. I have listened carefully to the debate. However, we prefer our amendment over Amendment No. 14. Our amendment makes clear the circumstances in which a refusal can be effected for a patient who lacks capacity to consent to ECT. Further, it provides for additional treatments to require the consent of patients who are capable of giving that consent and safeguards for the treatment of patients who cannot. Before I end, I inform noble Lords that in Committee we debated an amendment that would have provided that all clinics where ECT is administered would have to comply with the standards set by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ ECT accreditation scheme. My noble friend Lord Hunt advised your Lordships that he would make the Healthcare Commission aware of the debate and that he would arrange for officials to discuss with the royal college opportunities for encouraging more providers to put themselves forward for that scheme. Initial discussions have already taken place, and the Healthcare Commission’s head of mental health policy, Anthony Deery, and the director of the royal college’s research unit, Dr Paul Lelliott, along with Department of Health officials, will be meeting shortly to work through some proposals that the Royal College of Psychiatrists has put forward since Committee. The Government have proposed an alternative to Amendment No. 14 and, for the reasons that I have outlined, I ask the noble Baroness to consider withdrawing her amendment.