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Pressure on psychiatric wards has become so great that doctors are sectioning mentally illpatients unnecessarily, because it is often seen as the only way to gain access to a bed, MPs havefound.

The House of Commons Health Select Committee said it was shocked by disturbing evidencethat it was becoming increasingly difficult for mental health patients to gain access to hospital

on a voluntary basis, resulting cases of doctors declaring patients a risk to themselves and othersin order to speed admittance to a ward.

Patients who are detained under the Mental Health Act can be held in hospital against their willfor up to 28 days before further assessments that can extend their detention indefinitely.

The decision to section someone activates a legal obligation for the patient to be grantedimmediate access to an appropriate health facility.

The Health Select Committees report of its scrutiny of the outcomes Mental Health Act 2007 ispublished today. Giving evidence to MPs, the consultant psychiatrist Dr Julie Chalmers saidthat, in some areas, being detained is the ticket to getting a bed.

Another witness, Simon Lawton-Smith, head of policy at the Mental Health Foundation,accepted that is was possible a clinician might section a patient who in the past would not havebeen sectioned in order to access a psychiatric unit, MPs said.

Stephen Dorrell MP, chair of the Health Select Committee, said that the claims amounted tomore than anecdotal evidence and should be urgently investigated by the Department ofHealth.

This represents a serious violation of patients basic right and it is never acceptable for patientsto be subjected to compulsory detention unless it is clinically necessary, he said.

The number of detentions under the Mental Health Act is increasing. The Care QualityCommission has found that detentions were up 5 per cent in 2011-12, with 48,631 detentions inhospital.

Mr Dorrell told The Independentthat mental health services were also under disproportionatepressure from local healthcare cuts because commissioners found them easier to cut than morepolitically sensitive acute services.

According to the CQC, 50 per cent of psychiatric wards are at 90 per cent occupancy, and 15 percent of wards were operating above 100 per cent capacity.

The lack of hospital beds for psychiatric patients was also driving an increase in the number ofCommunity Treatment Orders (CTOs) issued, MPs said. Originally planned to reduce hospital

admissions by treating more psychiatric patients in the community, CTOs had done nothing toease pressure on hospitals, MPs said. The mental health charity Mind called for CTOs to berepealed.

MPs also found evidence of patients being subject to de facto detention whereby they aresectioned if they try to leave hospital having been admitted voluntarily, although they said thepractice appeared to be rare.

Vicki Nash, head of policy and campaigns at Mind, said: The committees report paints apicture that, sadly, will be all too familiar to many who have found themselves subject to theMental Health Act. People with mental health problems ought to be able to feel confident that,should they be detained under section, powers to detain and treat them and make decisions ontheir behalf will be used with great care and for the right reasons. It is clear from the evidencepresented to the committee that, too often, this is not the case.

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In further criticism, MPs said the Department of Health should urgently review theimplementation of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS), which outline the rights ofpatients detained under the Mental Capacity Act, who are usually dementia patients in carehomes.

The evidence the Committee heard regarding the application of DOLS revealed a profoundly

depressing and complacent approach to the matter, the committee said in its report. There isextreme variation in their use and we are concerned that some of the most vulnerable membersof society may be exposed to abuse because the legislation has failed to implement controls toproperly protect them.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: Vulnerable people deserve to be fully protected atall times, particularly when they need to be deprived of their liberty in their own best interests.However, there are still unacceptable variations across the country and we are working with theCQC, health services and local authorities to ensure that these protections are used wheneverthey are needed. We will take swift action where necessary to protect individual patients.

We remain committed to improving mental health services for everyone and will consider thisreport carefully.