POLICY: Mental Welfare Commission consultation on Investigating deaths occurring during compulsory care and treatment under mental health legislation in Scotland

Beyond any consultation on guidance and standards for local services; the MWC should also consult on the further detail of how its new role will operate, as that detail is developed. This detail will be crucial in enabling the RCN, and other stakeholders, to offer a robust view on whether the process will be operable in practice, and any challenges that may arise as a result of it.

It is difficult to appreciate the impact of the proposed changes, or offer a robust view on their operability, in the absence of an understanding of progress against the other ‘actions’ proposed in the 2018 review report (summarised on pages 9 and 10 of that report). If the ‘implementation group’ recommended by the review exists, an update from that group would be helpful and welcome. For example, without knowing what stage the options appraisal under action 3 has reached, it is difficult to appreciate whether the proposals in this consultation risk creating a ‘two tier system’ of investigation of death, whereby the deaths other ‘actions’ proposed in the 2018 review report (summarised on pages 9 and of those people subject to a CTO receive a greater degree of scrutiny than the deaths of people who are in hospital on a voluntary basis for treatment of mental disorder and so are not subject to a CTO.