Mental Health Legislation

The laws pertaining to mental health are complicated and not easily understood, and this book is designed to overcome these problems because it is important that practitioners are protected and can safeguard the service users they work with and care for. The book is divided into five chapters beginning with an overview of why mental health legislation came into being. The following chapters focus on the three Acts and their application to situations likely to met by nurses and other healthcare workers. The book includes a glossary of terms. This book fulfills the need of healthcare professionals for a broad view of the current legislative framework that will guide and govern their practice with caring for people with health problems. They need a good working knowledge of not only the recently revised Mental Health Act and its accompanying Code of Practice but also the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Children Act 1989, and this book provides this in an easily accessible form.