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This is a complete guide to the Mental Health Act 1983, and is a comprehensive and up-to-date reference guide for any mental health professional – from social workers, psychologists and occupational therapists, to doctors and nurses. The book aims to simplify mental health law so that it’s accessible to busy professionals at all stages of practice as well as those affected by mental health law.

Key chapters include details on who operates the Act, who is affected by it, how people may be subject to compulsion, how the law governs issues of capacity and consent to treatment, how to appeal against compulsion, and the role of the nearest relative. There are also important chapters on advocacy, children and human rights issues, as well as extensive appendices, which provide access to the 1983 Act itself, important rules and regulations and a summary of key cases that have been decided by the courts.

Key updates for this edition include:

- revised Codes of Practice for both England and Wales
- the impact of the Cheshire West case decisions in the Supreme Court
- expanded consideration of the assessment of capacity
- revisions of the tribunal report requirements in England
- revised Reference Guide
- much expanded case law Appendix