The Government has responded to the recommendations made in the rapid review of patient safety in mental health hospitals by announcing plans to tackle concerns about abuse and unsafe practices in mental health hospitals. Measures include: 

• Giving statutory powers to the inquiry into deaths of mental health inpatients across NHS Trusts in Essex. This inquiry investigates the deaths of almost 2,000 mental health patients including autistic patients. New legal powers will mean that witnesses can be compelled to give evidence.   
• A new Health Services Safety Investigations Body is being formed in October and will investigate issues in mental health inpatient care settings including out of area placements, staffing, how young people can be better cared for and what must be learnt from tragic deaths in mental health settings. 
• Publishing information from the Rapid Review about safety risk complaints, feedback and whistleblowing alerts in mental health inpatient settings. This will provide more information about how these are handled and what needs to change.  

Autistic people in mental health hospitals 

Autism is not a mental health condition, but current mental health law means that autistic people can be detained in mental health hospitals just because they are autistic. As well as this, the lack of support in the community means that too often autistic people reach crisis point and the only option is for them to be admitted to hospital. There are over 2,000 autistic people and people with learning disabilities in mental health hospitals in England. Some can spend months or even years in placements miles away from their homes and families where they are subjected to poor autism understanding, abuse, overmedication, inappropriate restraint and seclusion. 

The Rapid Review Report highlights many of the safety risks that autistic people in mental health units experience including: 

• A lack of regulation to make sure that care and treatment is therapeutic. 
• Staff, patients and carers do not feel safe sharing their feedback and don’t feel that they are listened to when they do.  
• Wards for autistic people and people with a learning disability are at a high risk of ‘closed cultures’ where human rights breaches and abuses are more likely.  
• 31% of the NHS trusts and 47% of the independent sector locations with learning disabilities or autism wards had a ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ safe rating. 

Our response 

We welcome the Government’s recognition of patient safety issues in mental health hospitals. The Health Services Safety Investigations Body, Inquiry into patient deaths across Essex and the Rapid Review findings have the potential to highlight significant issues in mental health hospitals that lead to safety risks. Last year our Young Ambassadors wrote to PM Rishi Sunak calling for an urgent national inquiry into the scandal of autistic people being stuck in mental health hospitals in England, a national review of crisis prevention services for autistic people, and for the autism strategy and local mental health services to be properly funded to prevent autistic people reaching crisis point.  

The newly announced measures won’t lead to improvement alone. Any findings must be met with drastic action to tackle the crisis of patient safety failures, abuse and mistreatment. The Government must move quickly to pass the draft Mental Health Bill so that autistic people without a mental health condition cannot be wrongly detained, invest in a fully funded social care system and provide enough of the right mental health services so that autistic people don’t reach crisis in the first place. Without these vital reforms, autistic people will still be stuck in mental health hospitals where they are at risk of abuse. 

Further information 

• Read our news story on the numbers of autistic people in mental health hospitals.  
• Read our news story on the Joint Committee’s report on the Draft Mental Health Bill. 
• Read more on the Government’s Draft Mental Health Bill 
• Read Alexis’ story about being “locked inside” various mental health hospitals for three years. 
• Read our information, advice and guidance about autism and mental health.