Scottish mental health law review: our response

How will we know if we have been successful?

The programme objectives will be developed with stakeholders over the coming months. This will include work to look at how we can understand and measure the impacts of reform. Any reforms we introduce must demonstrate tangible improvements over time. They must ensure better outcomes for people, and show that our mental health and capacity laws, policies and practices are increasingly based on, and further advancing, recognised human rights standards. At the same time, we must ensure that people who require support receive this at the right time and in the right way.

A goal for this programme will be to ensure that we know when non-consensual treatment and other restrictive practices are being used and progress is being made in reducing these approaches. We will also be working to demonstrate that our regulation and scrutiny bodies are identifying human rights issues and that services at national and local level are demonstrating effective action to address concerns quickly.

Success will mean that individuals will have a greater knowledge and understanding of their rights and what to do if they feel their rights are not being upheld; they will be supported to make or express their choices about any treatment, care or support they might need.

An ultimate aspiration will be that there is greater trust in our mental health system and a broader understanding of the system, extending beyond clinical services and encompassing broader supports in the community.