Mental health advanced choice documents ‘would reduce sectioning’

Expert says treatment plans set out while patients are well should be included in Mental Health Act reforms in England and Wales

Fewer people with mental illnesses would endure the trauma of being sectioned if advanced choice documents - setting out a treatment plan while they are well - were included in Mental Health Act reforms, a leading psychiatrist has said.

Advanced choice documents are the only proven way to reduce the number of people detained under the Mental Health Act in England and Wales, which is one of the reforms' core objectives, said Dr Lade Smith, the president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.