BJSW Advance Access originally published online on April 18, 2007
British Journal of Social Work 2008 38(6):1115-1131; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcm025
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Family Matters: Developments Concerning the Role of the Nearest Relative and Social Worker under Mental Health Law in England and Wales
Joan Rapaport trained and worked as a social worker and is currently a Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London. Following her PhD award in 2003 she has undertaken research principally in mental health and learning disability fields and has a particular interest in carers in mental health. She co-ordinates the Social Work History Network (SWHN) and is also an active member of BASW.
Jill Manthorpe is Professor of Social Work at King’s College London and Director of the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. She is currently working on studies of social work education and recruitment, barring and vetting schemes, mental capacity and dementia, and adult protection. She has taught on social work programmes as well as interprofessionally, and has a particular interest in mental health in later life.
Correspondence to Joan Rapaport, Social Care Workforce Research Unit, King’s College London, Strand Campus, London WC2R 2LS, UK. E-mail: joan.rapaport{at}kcl.ac.uk
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Abstract |
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The ‘nearest relative’ and social work roles in mental health services share common ground. Although the social worker is a trained professional and the nearest relative is identified from a fixed hierarchy of kin, both roles were awarded the authority to make a compulsory order for hospital admission of a person with serious mental disorder warranting detention in hospital. Both roles will alter if amendments to the 1983 Mental Health Act in England and Wales come into force. This article considers the changing roles of relatives, carers and practitioners in the context of policy shifts in mental health legislation and services in England and Wales. Drawing on the interlinked tenets of anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice, it presents an analysis of the interlocking powers of the nearest relative and the Approved Social Worker, and an overview of defunct and existing legal proposals. The article concludes that the lay and professional roles remain in flux but they are still interdependent in many instances. Note: The term ‘patient’ is used to describe a person who is detained or liable to be detained under the 1983 Mental Health Act. The term ‘service user’ is used to describe someone who uses mental health services. However, the authors acknowledge that both descriptors are problematic given the stigma associated with the term ‘patient’ and possible offence caused by defining people by the services they use. The terms are used to reflect the legal status implied and no prejudicial meanings or interpretations are intended.
Keywords: mental health, law, policy, nearest relative, carers, approved social worker
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