Research

You may think of me as rather strange (I’ll not be offended if you do; some of my fellow students do) after reading this entry.

I enjoy expanding my knowledge and delving into topics that have grabbed my interest to find out more – especially when topics grab my attention that I might not otherwise have had a chance to learn about.

This summer, when I am not at uni I aim to expand my knowledge further. I did the same last year, and it may well become a regular thing. I read an entry from the very learned “The Shrink”, which can be found here on the new legislation coming into force (slowly) south of the border regarding Mental Health.

In Scotland, we have different pieces of legislation covering many aspects of Mental Health treatment (such as the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000, Mental Health (Public Safety and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 1999 and Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003). Scotland has a legal system that is quite different in many aspects to that of its closest neighbour within the United Kingdom – this has not only been because of devloution, but is a historical thing.

I have become interested in exactly how the two jurisdictions differ on many things. In Criminal Law it would appear that crimes are often largly the same but with different names (for example, Manslaughter and Culpable Homicide).

I’ll cut to the chase, this summer I am going to set about examining the main differences between the provisions in Mental Health care, treatment and provision in terms of both legislative and common law arrangements between the two jurisdictions.

Getting a hold of and understanding the scottish material is not too difficult, I know exactly where to look and how to find it (having extensivly practiced this over the past two years). However, I am finding that getting the English side of things is rather more difficult!

So, this blog entry really is an appeal. If anyone has any handy links to docments about the system down south then I’d be more than grateful if you could pass them on to me. The main stuff I’m looking for is in relatin to the legal framework for dealing with mental health issues (for example, dealing with patients who pose a threat or danger to the public or themselves, legal requirements before a person can be admitted/discharged to/from care under Mental Health laws and such like, Human Rights issues surrounding Mental Health laws).

Yes, a rather strange topic.