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Independent
Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
Mental Health Matters Wales
provides the Independent Mental Health Advocacy service for Caerphilly,
Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Newport,
& Monmouthshire.
A new advocacy scheme has been
introduced for qualifying patients. These arrangements are introduced by
way of amendment to the Mental Health Act 1983 by section 30 of the Mental
Health Act 2007. Under these arrangements, Independent Mental Health
Advocates (IMHAs) provide qualifying patients with support and help.
Patients
who qualify for advocacy support are:
- detained or liable to be
detained under the 1983 Act
- subject to guardianship
under the Act
- community patients
subject to community treatment orders
- conditionally
discharged
- being considered for
section 57 or 58A treatments but are not otherwise subject to the Act
(i.e. an ‘informal’ patient)
Patients’ rights to an IMHA
A qualifying patient may ask for the support of an IMHA at any time.
Certain professionals have a duty to tell qualifying patients that
independent mental health advocacy is available and how they may obtain it.
Patients may want to consider accessing an IMHA in the following
circumstances:
- as soon as practicable after
their arrival in hospital under one of the relevant sections of the
Act
- before the initial
discussion with their clinician about the proposed treatment plan
- when the use of
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is being considered
- when an application has
been made or is being considered to the MHRT for Wales
or to the hospital managers
- when they choose not to be
legally represented at a tribunal hearing
- when they want to make, or
have made, a complaint
- when they want to discuss
any aspect of their care or treatment
- when they want to apply to
displace their nearest relative (see chapter 23)
- when they are consulted
about the conditions to be attached to a community treatment order
(CTO)
- when a CTO is renewed,
revoked, or its conditions are varied
- when a meeting is held to
discuss after-care.
What will the IMHA do?
The
IMHA will:
- ensure that the patient’s voice
is heard by supporting the patient to articulate their views and to
engage with the multi-disciplinary team
- support patients to access
information, and to understand better what is happening and what is
planned, and to understand better the options available to them
- support patients in
exploring options, making better-informed decisions and in engaging
with the development of their care plans
- supporting the patient
to ensure they are valued for who they are
- support the patient
to counteract any actual or potential discrimination.
Supporting the role and work of the
IMHA
Patients should have access to a telephone to speak to an IMHA in
private.
The IMHA has the right to:
- visit and interview the patient
in private
- visit, interview and get the views of anyone professionally
concerned with the patient’s medical treatment.
IMHAs should be enabled, as
appropriate, to:
- have access to the unit and ward
where the patient under detention is staying
- have access to
facilities in the community where the patient is a community patient
- attend relevant
meetings and ward rounds when asked to do so by the patient.
Access to records
Subject to conditions, the IMHA has a right to access and inspect
the patient’s relevant records, including any records:
- about the patient’s detention or
treatment in any hospital or registered establishment
- about any after-care services
provided to the patient under section 117
- of or held by an LSSA about the patient
Confidentiality
IMHAs are expected to follow an agreed confidentiality policy. Under
this, any information a patient share with an IMHA should remain
confidential unless the patient want it to be disclosed, or the IMHA has
reasons to disclose it.
In most circumstances the IMHA will
tell the patient all the information they have received on their behalf.
For
additional information please see Chapter 25 of the Mental Health Act 1983
Codes of Practice for Wales
Viewed
or downloaded HERE
(please note the file is 6.51mb in size
so may take some time to view or download on a slow connection)
For IMHA
services in other areas please click
HERE
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