Supporting Your Welfare
When a person no longer has the mental capacity to make health and welfare decisions or financial and property arrangements, we act on their behalf.
Interpreting Your Needs
We ensure that vulnerable individuals are represented with care and consideration, to negotiate the best possible outcome.
Court of Protection Articles
US researcher calls for more research into link between depression and infection (28 November 2014)
A US researcher at Stony Brook University in New York is suggesting that the mental health condition depression may be caused by a virus, bacterium or parasite – opening up the possibility of treating depression as an infectious disease. Read more...
Public health chief links potential mental health issues to fracking (10 November 2014)
The head of Public Heath Lancashire, Dr Sakti Karunanithi, has warned that fracking in Preston may impact on the mental health of residents. Read more...
Mental health campaigners say Norfolk and Suffolk services are not placed on an equal footing with physical healthcare (10 November 2014)
The Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk has accused the NHS of failing to put mental health on a par with physical health. Read more...
Movember mental health campaign aims to help men open up before they become “broken” (3 November 2014)
The co-founder of Movember – which encourages men to grow moustaches every November to raise awareness about men’s health – has said that men often do not look after themselves “until it is too late”. Read more...
Ministers call for more help for military needing mental health care (3 November 2014)
Ministers have recommended that more resources should be devoted to address mental health issues in the military. Read more...
Mental health trust emphasises the importance of physical health for mental health patients (30 October 2014)
A public event organised for Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust’s Mental Health Month has heard from mental health professionals on the importance of maintaining good physical health for those with a mental health condition. Read more...
Mind calls for more Local Authority spending on mental health (28 October 2014)
Mental health charity Mind has said that local authorities are spending too little on mental health services. Read more...
Movember report finds men still “suffering in silence” about mental health issues (27 October 2014)
A new report published by Leeds Metropolitan University ahead of next month’s Movember campaign has revealed that less than one-third of men would confide in their partner if they were worried they had a mental health problem. Read more...
Better communication with families of mental health patients’ urged by coroner (24 October 2014)
Assistant Coroner for Cornwall Andrew Cox has told Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust that its staff must communicate better with the families of mental health patients, following the death of a woman who had been detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act in the weeks before she died. Read more...
World Mental Health Day celebrated in North East (14 October 2014)
Mental health professionals, campaigners and patients have marked World Mental Health Day in Newcastle with a day of action involving live performances, stalls and testimonies from former mental health patients. Read more...
Mental health trust CEO welcomes national waiting times (10 October 2014)
The chief executive of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has welcomed the announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg that from April 2015, mental health patients will be given appointments under national waiting time standards. Read more...
Public consultation opens on redesign of mental health services across southwest London (1 October 2014)
There are fears that some mental health services across southwest London could be lost when services are “redesigned”. Read more...
Mental health trust surveyed by CQC cuts budget by £15m – and spends £16.3m on temporary staff (23 September 2014)
The health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said that Norfolk & Suffolk Mental Health Foundation Trust (NSFT) must make improvements to services for mental health patients in the area. Read more...
Mental health patient dies after being told he would have to wait months for acute depression therapy (11 September 2014)
An inquest has opened into the death of an IT expert who was told he would have to wait months to access mental health services for acute depression. Read more...
Mental health patient facing extradition to US to face terrorism-related charges (5 September 2014)
The High Court in London has ruled that a mentally ill man can be extradited from Britain to the United States (US) to face charges relating to attempts to establish a militant training camp in the US state of Oregon in 1999. Read more...
Triage mental health nurses working alongside police in South Tyneside (1 September 2014)
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW) and Northumbria Police are working together to deliver a new service to mental health patients in South Tyneside. Read more...
Link between infection and mental health may be resolved using aspirin or Ibuprofen (18 August 2014)
Researchers at Cambridge University have suggested that anti-inflammatory painkillers like aspirin and Ibuprofen may help reduce the symptoms of depression in some people. Read more...
Mental health doctor warns alcohol use may lead to those with depression “losing control” (13 August 2014)
A consultant physician at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust is warning that using alcohol while depressed may push some mental health patients into considering ending their life. Read more...
Charging for mental health support results in fall in user numbers (11 August 2014)
A mental health charity in Stevenage which started charging £10 for access to its services has seen user numbers fall from 30 to 20 a week. Read more...
Research suggests one in five parents may have mild to moderate mental health condition (29 July 2014)
Research by AXA PPP healthcare has found that as many as one in five parents may have a mild to moderate mental health condition, including anxiety, depression or stress as a result of the guilt they feel at leaving their children in someone else’s care. Read more...
NHS spends 10% of budget on mental health – despite government pledge for parity with other NHS services (25 July 2014)
Figures on NHS spending on mental health services show that mental health care is receiving just 10% of NHS spending – and some health trusts are spending as little as 6% on local mental health services. Read more...
Son of murdered West Midlands couple detained under Mental Health Act (24 July 2014)
A 23-year-old man has been released from hospital and immediately detained under the Mental Health Act, after both his parents were found dead at their home in Solihull, West Midlands. Read more...
More help in Herts for professionals working with children with mental health conditions (21 July 2014)
A new website has been launched to help adult professionals in Hertfordshire spot the signs of mental health conditions in children and young people. Read more...
Passer-by who confronted Lee Rigby’s killers is detained under the Mental Health Act (3 July 2014)
A 49-year-old woman who stood up to the two men who killed Fusilier Lee Rigby outside Woolwich Barracks last year has been detained under the Mental Health Act. Read more...
National mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness runs the service in Exmouth. (16 June 2014)
A mental health service in Exmouth, Devon, has used Men’s Health Week – which ran from 9-15 June – to encourage more men in Devon to come forward and seek help for a mental health condition. Read more...
NHS “rationing” hits student mental health services (9 June 2014)
NHS mental health services for students have been badly hit by the government’s budget cuts across mental health services. Read more...
New police custody suite signals “a massive change” for mental health patients (4 June 2014)
Chair of the Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing, Lord Adebowale, has said that improvements made to the treatment of mental health patients in police custody are “evidence of progress”. Read more...
Memory and IQ may predict schizophrenia risk (21 May 2014)
Researchers in Ireland have discovered that IQ and memory tests may hold the clue to whether to a person might go on to develop schizophrenia. Read more...
Nottinghamshire launches consultation to mark National Mental Health Awareness Week (14 May 2014)
National Mental Health Awareness Week 2014 (12th-18th May) is being marked in Nottinghamshire by the launch of a consultation into tackling poor mental health levels across the county. Read more...
Mental health patients in East Anglia “driven to Cheshire for treatment” (12 May 2014)
Health workers in East Anglia have declared an emergency in mental services, after it was revealed that some mental health patients are still being sent hundreds of miles out of the area covered by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) for treatment. Read more...
Mental health services in Coventry and Warwickshire “inconsistent” (8 May 2014)
A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report has said that mental health services in Coventry and Warwickshire are “inconsistent”. Read more...
Usdaw union pledges support to members with mental health issues (6 May 2014)
The UK’s fourth largest trade union Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) has voted in favour of unanimously supporting members with mental health issues. Read more...
Medical students oppose NHS cuts for mental health budgets (28 April 2014)
The annual BMA medical students’conference has called for an end to cuts to the mental health budget. Read more...
Sussex mental health trust “runs out of beds” due to rise in demand for services (14 April 2014)
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is currently placing 20 mental health patients with private healthcare providers because of a shortage of mental health beds in the region. Read more...
Mental health staff begin work in police stations in first pilot schemes (7 April 2014)
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust and the Northumberland and Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust have launched pilot schemes which offer support to mental health patients as they are processed through the criminal justice system. Read more...
MP warns waiting lists for mental health service in Devon “could cost lives” (3 April 2014)
Labour MP for Exeter Ben Bradshaw has warned that two-year waiting lists for mental health patients to access services in Devon will put lives at risk.
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Mental health patients failed by Mental Health Capacity Act 2005 (17 March 2014)
Safeguards for mental health patients were which introduced in 2005 have resulted in thousands of vulnerable and elderly mental health patients being “imprisoned” in care homes against their will.
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More community care for mental health patients proposed by Bolton CCG (12 March 2014)
Health chiefs in Bolton have defended a decision to close 50 mental health beds at the Royal Bolton Hospital, claiming that the money saved will be invested elsewhere in health services. Read more...
Mother driven to kill children over custody fears found dead at secure hospital (11 March 2014)
The mother of three children whom she was jailed for killing has been found dead at the secure mental health hospital where she was being held. Read more...
Mental health trust cuts 400 jobs – then looks overseas to fill 505 posts (3 March 2014)
Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has admitted that having cut 400 jobs at the mental health trust, they are now looking to fill 505 jobs by recruiting candidates from overseas. Read more...
Liberal Democrats pledge to make mental health services a priority (28 January 2014)
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has suggested that attitudes to mental health issues need to be brought out of the “dark ages “ – and has said that mental health patients should receive the same access to appropriate health services as patients with physical illnesses. Read more...
Mental health nurses pilot scheme for police stations (6 January 2014)
The government has announced that mental health nurses are to be posted at police stations and in courts to assist the police with cases involving detentions under the Mental Health Act 1983. Read more...