Again my hon. Friend is absolutely right. One could argue that that is important and should be logged. I am sure we would all want to involve the family in discussions about the treatment of family members. That might well have helped in the case of Mr Lewis. Yes, it is extraordinary that the bit that could actually be relevant to the treatment of the patient is not included and all this other stuff, which is completely irrelevant to their treatment, is included. It seems like unnecessary political correctness.
In recording the use of force, the inclusion of race to help tackle racism, of sexuality to tackle homophobia, and of gender to avoid sexism, will do nothing to aid the patients. Surely, if we believe in equality, all those things are irrelevant. We should not be pointing out people’s differences. Those things cannot be changed and are not relevant, and we should not be passing legislation that tries to make them an important part of treating people with mental health conditions.
If we will insist on going down this route, however, I am confused about why the Bill requires only the recording of the patient’s characteristics, and not those of the person giving out the treatment. If there is institutional racism, or whatever it is that people try to hang a hat on, surely the characteristics of the person using the force must be relevant. Surely a complete picture can never be grasped only by recording the characteristics of the patient. If we are trying, as I think the hon. Member for Croydon North is, to uncover unconscious bias, institutional racism, or whatever he wants to call it—people have their different terminology to hang their hat on—surely it cannot be done without amendment 21.
He indicated in his opening remarks that he had sympathy with it, and I am grateful to him for that. I hope he agrees that it is not just useful but essential if we are going down this route.
The Bill also asks that the police wear body-worn cameras so as to literally give a full picture of their involvement in these cases. Why are we only reporting one side of the story when the police are not there? If the relevant characteristics of the staff are included in the report, the recorded statistics might give a better representation of the matter. I feel that the provision I suggest in the amendment was not originally added because it might highlight a very different narrative from that which some would like to present. One particular concern I have is that these reports will be used to try and back up the questionable argument of institutional racism in the health service, despite studies showing a lack of early diagnosis of mental health illness and psychosis because of a lack of trust in mental health services among people from BAME communities.
It is consistently documented that BAME patients, particularly those with African and African-Caribbean backgrounds, are more likely to be diagnosed with a form of psychosis, and to enter the mental healthcare system via a more confrontational approach than would be the case through a routine appointment with a GP. That is the basis for the institutional racism argument. However, it should be considered that the suggestion of institutional racism in the mental healthcare system is what is preventing people from seeking early medical help in the first place. It is not helping the situation; it is making the situation worse. People are being told, “Don’t enter these services, because there is institutional racism”, and that is not helping anyone.
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The genuine, present issues that need to be addressed are whether patients are being treated early enough in their illnesses, and whether the treatments are sufficient to enable them to sustain mental wellbeing in the future. It strikes me that a huge section of the Bill is bogged down in stuff that is not important at all. I am not sure whether it was just an afterthought—“We’ll lob this in as well”—or whether it was intended to be central to the Bill, but I do not think it will help anyone’s mental health treatment. It will merely help lots of politically correct organisations around the country, which will start stamping their feet and saying that the public sector is institutionally racist. I do not believe that that is the case, and, as I said at the outset, I do not think there is much evidence to suggest that it is.
Amendment 16 would insert a new subsection (6A) in clause 7, which is entitled “Recording of use of force”. It would require records of use of force to be added to the patient’s medical records. I would like to think that that is a rather obvious and sensible measure, and I have a feeling that the hon. Member for Croydon North would be quite sympathetic to it. It would ensure that the use of restraint against a patient was documented on the patient’s records, which would help people to know how to deal with the patient in the future. Someone who did not happen to be present at the time, or a new member of staff, would more readily have access to information that I think is crucial to the way in which people should or should not be treated in any particular circumstance.
It is worth bearing in mind that a key argument in favour of the Bill is that there is currently no consideration of whether a patient has experienced a history of abuse or violence, and whether there are therefore some forms of restraint to which he or she should not be exposed. The one thing that is missing in the middle of all the reporting, statistic taking and analysis is the patient’s care plan. The purpose of restraint techniques is to prevent patients from causing harm to themselves and others around them when they are experiencing what could arguably be a very dark and turbulent period of their lives. Those methods are being branded tactics to control and humiliate patients, when in fact they are part of a broader care plan to protect the patient. That often seems to be forgotten. To put it in simple terms, they can form part of the patient’s overall treatment. I find it astounding that unless the Government change their mind, these instances will not be documented in individual medical notes as they should be.