§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the current effectiveness of care of the mentally disabled.
§ Mr. YeoThe Government's long-standing policy is that people with mental illness should have access to all the services they need, as locally as possible, from long-term in-patient care for the severely and chronically ill to domiciliary support for those who can live near normal lives at home.
Research shows that patients moved from long stay mental illness hospitals to community programmes usually do well on transfer and they and their carers and relatives prefer community-based care.
Evidence from such research both in this country and from abroad, particularly in the United States of America, strongly supports the conclusion that mentally ill people, including chronic and severe patients, can be successfully treated in the community.
To promote the development of comprehensive, local community care services for mentally ill people a mental health task force led by David King was set up last year. It will promote and assist the development of a concerted, comprehensive and speedy implementation of our policies for mental health services, with particular regard to the replacement of large long-stay institutions by more locally based and accessible services.
The Government are currently considering whether changes are needed to the mental health legislation to ensure the more effective delivery of care to the small minority of mentally ill people who refuse to participate voluntarily in their care programmes.