The Care Quality Commission’s annual review of Monitoring the Mental Health Act 2016/17. This briefing summarises the key headlines from the report, as well as the press release issued in response.

Main points from the review include:

• CQC has found limited or no improvement in key areas of concern raised in previous years, including patient involvement in care planning; clinical consideration of least restrictive options for care; improving the number of patients who receive physical health checks; and improving the number of patients being referred to advocacy services and informed of their legal rights on admission.
• CQC’s findings, along with the hypotheses generated from its recent report exploring potential reasons for the rise in detentions under the Mental Health Act, will help inform the current Independent Review of the Mental Health Act, led by Professor Sir Simon Wessely. 
• CQC will also conduct during 2018 a collaborative evaluation with patients, providers and experts of the way the MHA Code of Practice (2015) has been implemented to inform the Independent Review.  

At the NHS Providers Mental Health Leaders Network held on 09 February, Professor Sir Simon Wessely reiterated that he is keen to ensure that provider concerns about implementation of the Mental Health Act 1983 are appropriately represented in the evidence submitted to the review, and also to understand what providers would find unhelpful with respect to changes to the MHA – particularly with regards to resource implications. The CQC’s findings and proposed measures with respect to the terms of reference for the Review may provide further guidance for trusts wishing to consider how changes to the Act could impact on front-line services.

Comments can still be submitted to the Review via: Cassandra.Cameron@nhsproviders.org. The interim report will be published by Easter.