Weightmans mental health specialist, David Hewitt, is wary of new healthcare law

AT THE NHS Confederation Conference in Liverpool, Health Secretary Andy Burnham said he intends to integrate the healthcare and social care.

But there is a feeling among those in the healthcare service that it is already developing quicker than the legislation that underpins it.

A growing number of healthcare and social care providers are already getting together to create innovative ways of providing an integrated service for people who are vulnerable, and we have now reached a tipping point where the law is in some areas starting to inhibit that progression.

I have some reservations about how the Government’s proposed changes will affect those working in the mental health service.

I agree that the law dealing with adult social care needs to be more streamlined, concise and relevant to mental healthcare providers.

But I worry that there has already been significant amendments to the Mental Heath Act, the Mental Capacity Act and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in the past year or so.

These changes to the legislative landscape all arrived in a short period of time. What the service needs now is time to get used to these changes before any new policies are brought in – a period of quiet contemplation.