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Mental Health: Guardianship cases continue to fall in England, new figures show

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- 2011-12 figures show a quarter of cases occurred in North West

Cases of Guardianship – a safeguard available under the Mental Health Act – have fallen in England for the seventh consecutive year, a Health and Social Care Information Centre report shows.

In 2011/12, 331 new cases were opened; a five per cent fall on the previous year (347) and a 31 per cent fall on 2002/03 (477).

Guardianship under the Mental Health Act 1983, England, 2012 also shows there were 682 continuing cases (those that remained open) at the end of 2011/12; a three per cent fall on the previous year (703) and a 26 per cent fall on 2002/03 (923).

Meanwhile 357 cases were closed in 2011/12; compared to 449 in the previous year and 534 in 2002/03.

Guardianship allows a local social services authority or named individual to take certain decisions on behalf of a person with a mental disorder being cared for in the community, to protect their welfare or the welfare of others. Decisions might include where the person lives, or appointments they need to attend.

The report notes the fall in cases in recent years may be due to the introduction of two other mental health safeguards; there has been increasing use of both Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) and applications for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which have been available to health professionals since November 2008 and April 2009 respectively.

Today’s report also shows in 2011/12:

  • Just over a quarter (27 per cent ) of new cases in England were in the North West, accounting for the highest number and rate of new cases (90, or 13 per million of the population) of any of the ten English regions. The lowest number and rate was in the East Midlands (ten cases, or two per million of the population).
  • More than half of continuing cases occurred in a sixth of England’s Local Authorities. The North West had the highest number and rate of continuing cases (178, or 26 per million of the population) of any of the ten English regions. The lowest number and rate was in London (34 continuing cases, or four per million of the population)
  • The North West also had the highest number and rate of closed cases (107, or 15 per million of the population) while the lowest number and rate was seen in the East of Engand (10 or two per million of the population)

HSCIC chief executive Tim Straughan said: “Today’s report gives an important insight into the use of guardianship in protecting the interests of some of the most vulnerable in society. It will be of interest to not only those who monitor the use of the Mental Health Act and the rights of people with mental disorders, but to the public in general.

“The figures show a continuing decline in the number of guardianship cases in this country. However; when considered against other HSCIC reports about other Mental Health safeguards; it is clear that while guardianship cases have fallen, the use of Community Treatment Order and applications for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards have risen.”

The report is at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/guardianmh12

ENDS

Notes to editors

  1. HSCIC was previously known as the NHS Information Centre. It is England’s authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with a wide range of health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work. The HSCIC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.
  2. This report contains the latest statistics about cases of guardianship under Sections 7 and 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in England. It contains information at national and local authority level. This will be relevant to anyone with responsibility for handling applications for guardianship or who is involved in monitoring uses of the Mental Health Act and the rights of people with mental disorders. It will be of particular interest to local social services authorities who are the named guardians in the majority of cases and who supply the data used for these statistics.
  3. The purpose of guardianship is to enable patients to receive care in the community where it cannot be provided without the use of compulsory powers. It provides a framework, as part of the overall care and treatment plan, for working with a patient to achieve as independent a life as possible. Guardianship applies to patients who are at least 16 years old and who have a mental disorder of a nature or degree which warrants reception into guardianship, and where it is also necessary in the interests of the welfare of the patient or for the protection of others.
  4. A continuing case is one that was open in the previous financial year and has continued into the current financial year for which figures are collated, or has begun in the current financial year and is still open at the end of it. A new case is one that has been opened during the current financial year for which figures are collated.  A closed case is one that ends during the current financial year for which figures are collated.  Some inconsistences in the time series figures in this release arise because of revisions to previous years and other issues relating to the reliability of historical data.  These are described in the Background Quality Report that accompanies the release.
  5. 2002/03 is used as the base year in order to provide ten years of data as in previous reports, to offer an indication of changes over time. Please note figures presented in today’s report may vary from those published in previous years’ report. This is because local authorities have the authority to submit revised data as part of their yearly submission to HSCIC.
  6. Information about the use of Community Treatment Orders (CTOs) is available at Inpatients formally detained in hospitals under the Mental Health Act 1983 and patients subject to supervised community treatment, Annual figures, England 2010/11, published on October 11 2011. The report shows that 4,291 people were subject to a CTO at 31 March 2011, almost a 30 per cent rise on the previous year. The report is published at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/inpatientdetmha1011
  7. Information about applications for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards is contained in Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards assessments - England, 2011-12, Third report on annual data, published on July 17 2012. The report shows that 11,393 DoLs applications were made in 2011/12; a 27 per cent rise on the previous year. It is published here: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/mentalcapacity1112annual.
  8. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or contact media enquiries@ic.nhs.uk