Mental Health Legislation

Question 1

What is mental health legislation and what does it permit a doctor to do?

Answer 1

Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2003

• permits doctors to provide compulsory care and treatment for people with mental health disorder
• rights and safeguards to ensure powers are used appropriately
• allows detainment (EDC up to 72h can be done by any fully registered doctor, STDC up to 28d must be an approved practitioner, CTO up to 6m 2 medical reports) criteria for which is SIDMA (significant impairment of decision making ability)

Adults With Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000

• incapable of acting, making, communicating, understanding or retaining memory of decisions
• capacity present until proven otherwise, decision specific

Question 2

What are the specific mental health difficulties associated with young people?

Answer 2

X

Question 3

What preventative measures might be introduced or followed to address some of the mental health problems in current society?

Answer 3

X