Being Assessed under the 1983 Mental Health Act—Can it Ever be Ethical?

Moral Regret in Mental Health Social Work

“…This, (although anecdotal evidence could be explained in a number of ways) further suggests to me that the actions we took were damaging and caused more harm than good. The experience I had of feeling extremely powerless, and as though I had failed both myself and Paul, echoes that of Kinney's (2009) account of working within organisational constraints and the frustration inherent with feeling unable to provide appropriate support as a result. The experience was traumatic and stigmatizing for Paul.…”

“…The simple task of talking to Paul was not facilitated. Kinney (2009) discusses a situation whereby the simplest of tasks are impossible to organise due to the risks being considered too high. Once a person is diagnosed as mentally ill, the label is very difficult to escape from and the stigma attached to this is difficult to avoid (Kinney 2009).…”

“…Kinney (2009) discusses a situation whereby the simplest of tasks are impossible to organise due to the risks being considered too high. Once a person is diagnosed as mentally ill, the label is very difficult to escape from and the stigma attached to this is difficult to avoid (Kinney 2009). Instead of facilitating and engaging in therapeutic practice based upon trust and mutuality (Smith 2008) we adhered to and colluded with bureaucratic processes, rules and policy guidelines, the focus of which was upon 'risk', and was a one-way, decontextualised power relationship (Smith 2008) resulting in defensive risk averse practice, to the detriment of Paul's wellbeing (Banks 2012).…”

Some Ethical Practice Reflections on Psychiatric Inpatient Care

“…My own motivations for attempting to tentatively reintroduce social workers back onto the wards was informed by my own practice ethical musings (Kinney 2009), very distressing family experiences of ward culture, my continuing work with service user groups (who provide a lot of mainly negative perspectives on ward life) and the plethora of damning reports and writing on these issues (Walton 2000;Mental Health Act Commission 2009). The often oppressive nature of this work environment was an immense challenge to the students and they almost left on several occasions.…”

“…Nurse students worked from more medically focussed perspectives and as Jen pointed did not therefore have the same level of ethical sensitivity. I can fully empathise with this (Kinney 2009) as the position of social work, potentially advocating of the social model in services dominated by pathological approaches to practice, may be at best marginal and at worst complicit with significant oppressive practice (McLaughlin 2008). On a more positive note some health trusts in the UK are opening themselves up to critical examination and some positive changes are taking place.…”