Draft Mental Health Bill ‘Discriminating’

By Anonymous

The draft mental health bill gives a ‘green light to health professionals to carry on discriminating’, black and minority ethnic (BME) leaders claimed last week.

The 1990 Trust, a human rights and race equality organisation, said the government must change the bill before it is republished. ‘There is no justification for black people to be disproportionately sectioned, restrained or over-medicated,’ a trust spokesperson said. ‘The only explanation is racism within the system.’

The trust issued the statement on the eve of a meeting in London at which black mental health experts, parliamentarians and church leaders voiced their concerns about the bill.

Copyright RCN Publishing Company Ltd. Feb 1-Feb 7, 2006