The Partnership Development Team

Mental Health Act (1983)

The Mental Health Act 1983 covers the assessment, treatment and rights of people with a mental health condition. The Act governs the admission of people to psychiatric hospital against their will, their rights while detained, discharge from hospital, and aftercare. The Act applies in England and Wales.

This is a text of the Mental Health Act 1983 as it stood at November 2006. A separate document is available showing how it would look if it were to incorporate the amendments to be made by the Mental Health Bill.

Warning: this text has been prepared by officials of the Department of Health. Although every effort has been taken to ensure that it is accurate, it should not relied on as a definitive text of the Act. It has been produced solely to help people understand the Mental Health Bill. It is not intended for use in any other context.

To download the Mental Health Act 1983 as amended to 15th November 2006 click here.

Mental Health Act 1983 as amended by the Mental Health Bill

The Mental Health Bill 2006 amends the Mental Health Act 1983 as part of the Government's comprehensive strategy to reform and modernise mental health care. The amending Bill will ensure that legislation reflects the modernisation of services and the move towards more treatment in the community. It will improve safeguards for patients and increase the safety of individual patients and protect the wider public from harm.

This is a text of the Mental Health Act 1983 as it would look once amended by the Mental Health Bill.

(Please note: this document has been produced in order to help people understand the effect of the Bill, it should not be relied upon for any other purpose.)

To download the Mental Health Act 1983 as it will be amended by the Bill click here.

If there are any other documents you feel should be made available, please contact us.