Exploring professionals' understanding, interpretation and implementation of the 'appropriate medical treatment test' in the 2007 amendment of the Mental Health Act 1983

Benjamin I Perry; Nina Champaneri; Frances Griffiths; Moli Paul; Zoebia Islam; Jorun Rugkåsa; Tom Burns; Peter Tyrer; Michael Crawford; Shoumitro Deb; Swaran P Singh

doi:10.1192/bjpo.bp.116.003939

Exploring professionals' understanding, interpretation and implementation of the 'appropriate medical treatment test' in the 2007 amendment of the Mental Health Act 1983

BJPsych Open. 2017 Feb 23;3(1):57-63. doi: 10.1192/bjpo.bp.116.003939. eCollection 2017 Jan.

Authors

Benjamin I Perry¹, Nina Champaneri², Frances Griffiths³, Moli Paul⁴, Zoebia Islam⁵, Jorun Rugkåsa⁶, Tom Burns⁷, Peter Tyrer⁸, Michael Crawford⁹, Shoumitro Deb¹⁰, Swaran P Singh¹¹

Affiliations

¹ , BSc, MBBS, Department of Mental Health and Wellbeing, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK; Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, Nuneaton, UK.
² , MBChB, MRCPsych, Department of Psychiatry, Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK.
³ , MBBS, PhD, FRCGP, Division of Health Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
⁴ , MBChB, MMedSci, MRCPsych, Department of Mental Health and Wellbeing, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
⁵ , MSc, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Birmingham and Solihull Mentla Health Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK.
⁶ , Cand Mag, Cand Polit, PhD, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Akershus University, Oslo, Norway.
⁷ , MD, DSc, FRCPsych, CBE, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
⁸ , MD, FRCP, FRCPsych, FMedSci, Centre for Mental Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.
⁹ , MD, FRCPsych, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
¹⁰ , MBBS, FRCPsych, MD, Centre for Psychiatry, Division of Brain Sciences, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK.
¹¹ , MD, MBBS, FRCPsych, Department of Mental Health and Wellbeing, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.

Abstract

Background: The appropriate medical treatment test (ATT), included in the Mental Health Act (MHA) (1983, as amended 2007), aims to ensure that detention only occurs when treatment with the purpose of alleviating a mental disorder is available.

Aims: As part of the Assessing the Impact of the Mental Health Act (AMEND) project, this qualitative study aimed to assess professionals' understanding of the ATT, and its impact on clinical practice.

Method: Forty-one professionals from a variety of mental health subspecialties were interviewed. Interviews were coded related to project aims, and themes were generated in an inductive process.

Results: We found that clinicians are often wholly relied upon for the ATT. Considered treatment varied depending on the patient's age rather than diagnosis. The ATT has had little impact on clinical practice.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest the need to review training and support for professionals involved in MHA assessments, with better-defined roles. This may enable professionals to implement the ATT as its designers intended.

Declaration of interest: None.

Copyright and usage: © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2017. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license.