Every year, information is prepared by the Government Statistical Service on the extent of the use of the Mental Health Act and associated legislation.
For the first time, the Statistical Bulletin published in January 1998 contained figures on the use of the Act on one specific day - 31 March 1997. On this day, 11,469 people were detained under the Mental Health Act. Of these, 9,373 [82%] were detained in NHS Trust facilities, 1,391 [12%] were detained in the three high security / special hospitals, and 705 [6%] were detained in independent sector registered mental nursing homes.
In 1996-97 there were 23,186 admissions to NHS hospital facilities in England under the Mental Health Act. This figure, and the breakdown given below, relates to the section used on admission, and does not represent the total number of uses of the detention sections of the Act, as one person may be placed on several different sections over a period of time in hospital.
Over the last 10 years or so, there has been a substantial increase in the use of formal admission, as seen from the table below:.
| Section(s) | 1986 | 1991-92 | 1996-97 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 2 Admission for Assessment | 8,260 | 11,069 | 11,179 |
| Section 3 Admission for Treatment | 1,934 | 5,474 | 8,742 |
| Section 4 Emergency Admission for Assessment | 2,763 | 1,555 | 1,482 |
| Sections involving the Courts (including Section 35 and Section 37) and Transfers from Prison (including Sections 47 & 48) | 1,484 | 1,972 | 1,752 |
| Miscellaneous Other Legislation | 70 | 103 | 31 |
| TOTAL FORMAL ADMISSIONS | 14,511 | 20,173 | 23,186 |
Although the table shows that there were 11,179 admissions under Section 2 in 1996-97, Section 2 was used an additional 6,577 times where the person concerned was already in hospital, either informally, or under a different Section. Similarly, in addition to the 8,742 admissions under Section 3, this Section was used an additional 10,686 times.
The power of Supervised Discharge, introduced by the Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act 1995, and by some felt to be over complex and of limited value, was used only 203 times - for people previously detained under Section 3 or Section 37.