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Article: David Hewitt on the impact of the new Mental Health Act; OPINION.(News)
- Article from:
- Daily Post (Liverpool, England)
- Article date:
- October 21, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 MGN Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: David Hewitt
THE new Mental Health Act is finally coming into force, but the process that produced it was as unedifying as it was long and tortuous.
It is almost a decade since the Government said it wanted a new Mental Health Act.
The 2007 Act is not a proper one; in 2006, the Government said it had decided to amend the old Act. But the amendments it pushed through Parliament will give it pretty much everything it wanted.
Not that everyone was happy with the changes. The intervening years have been filled with rancour, both inside and outside the House.
The debate about the Mental Health Act became polarised, with the ...