Many patients with eating disorders report that their encounters with the Mental Health Act 1983 have been largely negative experiences. They and their families feel disempowered and shut out of decisions surrounding their treatment, which can then be forcibly administered if they object to it.

Patients who go on to recover often ascribe that recovery to some positive interaction with the Act, where a professional or MDT places them at the heart of their own care and help them rediscover who they are.

Course Overview

This one-day course draws on a combination of legal principles, guidance and practical experience, as it follows the journey of a young person with anorexia nervosa through the psychiatric system. With a focus firmly on the law and legal theory surrounding each step of the admission and treatment process, delegates will further develop their own approach to their professional roles in assisting patients to recover and take responsibility for their own care and treatment.

Key Learning Points

• Identify the core patient rights which must be considered at all times when supporting someone with an eating disorder.
• Describe what the duty to take “reasonable steps” to protect life means within the context of eating disorders.
• List the procedural safeguards which must be in place if someone is to be detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.
• Apply the principle of autonomy and respect for “unwise decisions” made by patients, identify when a deprivation of liberty is taking place and apply the proper legal test for capacity to consent to in-patient psychiatric treatment.
• Review the factors which must be considered both when assessing whether it is in the interests of a patient’s health or safety for them to be detained in hospital under section and whether detention in hospital is appropriate.
• Understand the circumstances under which treatment without consent can be administer to a detained psychiatric patient.

This course is aimed at AMHPs, Social Workers and trainee social workers working with
psychiatric inpatients, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses.