§ Ms. JowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is her estimate of the timing and costs of full implementation of the care programme policy for mentally ill people, including the costs of necessary psychiatric services.
§ Mr. YeoWe required all district health authorities to implement fully the care programme approach from 1 April 1991 and we have received assurances from regional health authorities that this has been done. The Department and the regional health authorities are monitoring progress.
The introduction of the care programme approach in itself imposed no new costs on either health or local authorities as it embodied existing good professional practice.
§ Ms. JowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps she is taking to monitor the application of section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983;
(2) how many people are subject to the provisions of section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983; and what is the current cost of its implementation for each regional health authority.
§ Mr. YeoThe implementation of section 117 of the Act is reviewed by the Mental Health Act Commission as part of its programme of visits to health and social services. In its fourth biennial report, published in December 1991, the commission reported that most health authorities and social services departments had completed their policies and procedures for the implementation of section 117.
220WThe services which this section of the Act requries authorities to provide for formerly detained patients form part of the general provision of services for mentally ill people in the community and we do not collect separate figures about them. Under the care programme approach introduced in April 1991 all patients using these services, whether or not they have been detained in hospitals, are required to have an individual care programme and a named key worker.