Legal orders for mentally ill patients up nearly 50%

A mental health watchdog raised concerns about the use of legal orders for “compulsory medication”, after an increase of nearly 50 per cent in a decade.

Compulsory community treatment orders (CCTOS) were introduced in Scotland 20 years ago, in a bid to offer people with severe mental ill health the chance to get full support and treatment at home as they recovered.

A new report from the Mental Welfare Commission, a branch of the NHS, showed there has been a 44 per cent increase, from 941 in 2012 to 1,333 in 2022.

Some people were subject to a CCTO for 17 years, the average was five years and nearly three-quarters of the orders were in place for more than two years, according to the report.

The authors of the report spoke to 92 people on a CCTO for more than two years, of whom 64.7 per cent were male and 32.6 per cent were female.

Interviews also took place with 29 relatives, and 322 medics and social work staff.

Some 72 per cent of patients had a diagnosis of “schizophrenic type” illness, and 73 per cent said they would prefer to be subject to a legal order rather than in hospital.

The legal orders “guarantee treatment in a crisis”, according to patients who were supportive.

However it was suggested that CCTOS could be perceived as a “threat of return to hospital”.

The report said that only a third of patients (33.1 per cent) saw any positive benefits from being on it for two years or more, and 32 people had appealed against the order.

But carers questioned were vastly supportive, with 93 per cent saying compulsory measures were “appropriate”, and health workers raised concerns that patients would stop taking medication without the support.