Psychiatrists in Scotland are starting to view the new Mental
Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 a little more
positively, according to the
results of a
survey published in the December issue of the
Psychiatric
Bulletin.
Overall, levels of satisfaction among
psychiatrists rose between 2006 and 2007. But the survey also shows
that many psychiatrists still harbour concerns – with 43% remaining
unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with the Act. Furthermore, over
two-thirds still don’t believe that patient care has improved.
Researchers Dr Andrew Donaldson, Dr Christine
Carswell and Dr Keith Brown carried out an initial survey of
psychiatrists’ views in early 2006 – just a few months after the
new Act came into force in Scotland in October 2005. One year on,
in March 2007, they carried out a repeat survey to investigate
whether psychiatrists’ opinions had changed.
In the second survey, 237 members of the Royal
College of Psychiatrists in Scotland completed an anonymous
one-page questionnaire. Over half of respondents (54%) said they
were either satisfied or very satisfied with the new Act in 2007 –
up from 37% in 2006. In addition, 51% of the 2007 respondents said
they would choose to use the new Act in preference to the previous
Act of 1984.
According to the researchers, an increase in
satisfaction with the Act over time “would be expected as
psychiatrists become more familiar with the procedures and
paperwork”. However, the survey shows that significant areas of
concern remain.
Writing in the Psychiatric Bulletin,
the researchers said: “Although there may continue to be further
improvement in the future, there is clearly still a considerable
degree of dissatisfaction with the Act at present, with 43% of
respondents unsatisfied or very unsatisfied. In the second survey,
there was a statistically significant increase in respondents who
felt that patient care had improved, but 69% of psychiatrists
continued to express the view that patient care had not improved
with the new Act.”
In addition, the vast majority (89%) of
psychiatrists questioned in 2007 felt their daytime workload had
increased as a result of the new Act – with some blaming “overly
bureaucratic and time-consuming” paperwork. A further 40% reported
an increase in their out-of-hours workload.
Although additional funds were made available from the Scottish
Executive for implementing the new Mental Health, only 17% of
respondents reported receiving additional payments for the Mental
Health Act work. Commenting on this discrepancy, the researchers
said: “This increased workload without additional financial
compensation may have a detrimental effect on morale and
recruitment.”
They concluded: “Overall, psychiatrists
appeared to view the 2003 Mental Health Act a little more
positively than they did the preceding year. However, there are
still significant areas of concern which need to be addressed. We
hope this repeat survey helps identify some of these concerns and
ultimately leads to improvements in the working of the Act.”