It is really great news that the government has now launched a new white paper and accompanying consultation for Reforming the Mental Health Act.

The review’s final report said that the Mental Health Act does not always work as well as it should for patients, their families and their carers. There is now a proposal for a wide range of changes to rebalance the Mental Health Act, to put patients at the centre of decisions about their own care and ensure everyone is treated equally.

The 4 principles that will be covered in the consultation are:

• choice and autonomy – ensuring service users’ views and choices are respected
• least restriction – ensuring the MHA’s powers are used in the least restrictive way
• therapeutic benefit – ensuring patients are supported to get better, so they can be discharged from the MHA
• the person as an individual – ensuring patients are viewed and treated as individuals

The white paper also contains new proposals about the care and treatment of people with learning disabilities that were not fully developed at the time of the review. This is a significant development in how people with learning disabilities are assessed and supported, with the aim of reducing the number of people detained to mental health units and to improve support for people in the community.

We would really encourage everyone to share their views on the changes to the Mental Health Act to help put service users at the centre of decisions about their own care.

The consultation is open now until 21st April 2021, here’s how to respond:

https://consultations.dhsc.gov.uk/5fd10ed02513901f29167e1d

As a specialist, family-run recruitment business, we provide a proactive and consultative approach to recruitment. We help organisations to target issues such as continuity of staffing, reducing spend where you have a high volume of agency usage and supporting those who have specific talent requirements or are in hard to fill locations. We can help with any immediate staffing requirements or longer-term recruitment projects to ultimately save you time and money on agency spend.

Should you need our support, we have set up a simple 3-step process to get you up and running quickly:

1. Email recruitment@ajrecruitment.com requesting details of our rates and terms of business.
2. Sign the terms of business once you receive this.
3. Once you have done step 1&2 just call us on 03305 552233 or email recruitment@ajrecruitment.com to confirm your requirements

Here at AJ, remarkable service delivery will always sit at the centre of what we do and we use data and digital systems to ensure we are able to do this consistently.

If you would like any more information on the above or to discuss how else we can support your service, please let us know. To get in touch, contact the team on 03305 552233 or email recruitment@ajrecruitment.com.

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