• Government announces Mental Health Bill
• The bill will prevent autistic people from being kept in mental health hospitals for treatment just because they have autism.
• The bill will undergo Parliamentary scrutiny in the next few weeks and could be strengthened before becoming law.

The government this week unveiled the new Mental Health Bill, which will reform mental health legislation to end the inappropriate detention of autistic people and people with learning disabilities.

This law was not passed very early. There are currently 2,020 autistic and learning disabled people detained in mental health hospitals in England who are let down by the current system. The average length of stay in mental health hospitals for these individuals is around five years, during which time they may be subjected to unnecessary restraint, excessive medication, and solitary confinement. This is a human rights scandal.

Preventing inappropriate detentions is an issue that the National Autistic Society has been campaigning on for years, and the bill published today has the capacity to put an end to this appalling practice.

What’s in the bill?

By removing autism from the definition of mental health disorder, the Mental Health Bill introduces mental health legislation that is contrary to the modern understanding of autism. This means it would be illegal to keep an autistic person in a mental health hospital for treatment unless they also have an existing mental health problem.

The bill is wide-ranging and also offers greater protection for autistic people who need to be hospitalized. This includes putting Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (C(E)TRs) on a legal basis to ensure autistic people receive the right treatment and speed up discharges. It also introduces a legal risk register to ensure the needs of autistic people at risk of hospitalization are met in the community.

What happens now?

These reforms, a manifesto commitment of the Conservative Party in both 2017 and 2019, have been long awaited. The National Autistic Society and thousands of autistic people and their families have been campaigning for years to end the inappropriate detention scandal. We are pleased to see these reforms finally being moved forward.

But there is much to do. We want to ensure that the bill is as strong as possible to provide the greatest protection and safety for autistic people. This means:

• Strengthening review processes and protections for autistic patients in mental health hospitals
• Increasing duties to provide adequate and quality support to individuals with autism in society
• Closing inappropriate alternative routes to detention
• Providing treatment in a mental health hospital is always therapeutically beneficial

Legal reform is just the beginning. Often, people with autism develop mental illnesses and reach crisis point because their needs are not met in society. Investment in community services must go hand in hand with reform. This means developing and sustaining high-quality and accessible mental health services that can provide people with autism with the holistic and individualized care they so desperately need.

The bill will now go through the Parliamentary process, where it can be strengthened, starting with the House of Lords. In the meantime, we will continue to campaign for much-needed investment in community services that work for all autistic people, as well as ensuring the Bill provides the best protection for autistic people.

Tim Nicholls, Deputy Director of Policy, Research and Strategy at the National Autistic Society, said:

“This is a once-in-a-generation chance to end the human rights scandal of the improper detention of autistic people in mental health hospitals.

“Autism is not a mental health problem, but there are currently 1,385 autistic people in mental health hospitals, with many better supported at home surrounded by loved ones. Instead, they are detained for an average of five years and risk being subjected to unnecessary restraint, excessive medication and solitary confinement.

“For years we have been campaigning to reform the outdated Mental Health Act and protect the human rights of autistic people. That’s what this Bill should do. But changing the law is only part of what is needed. Without investment to ensure the right support is available everywhere, autistic people will still face this inequality.”