HealthEnded 12 Sept
Has community care under the Mental Health Act failed people with severe mental illness who pose a danger to others?
Yes 94%No 6%778 votes cast
The Mental Health Act 2025 raised the threshold for detention and community treatment orders to require risk of serious harm. Community mental health services face high demand, long waits, staff shortages and bed pressures, with CQC reporting people becoming more unwell before assessment. High-profile cases like the Nottingham attacks have highlighted failures to ensure medication adherence or manage risk in the community for some with severe illness such as schizophrenia.
18 Opinions
The services for those who pose a danger are usually for people who are likely to be terrorists, so the fault lies with counter terrorism etc.
The entire system has failed the mentally ill. And it should be held accountable for it's failings.
Probably, I don’t have any experience of this but I do think the old asylum system should have been updated. The Stsrr does not spend its citizens money on things which would help them so social care at all levels is underfunded random & in many cases comprises criminal neglect for which transgressors are rarely brought to account. The Civil Serice always exempts itself from any responsibilities. That is the failure.
Its not just that there is no care in the community - it's that the professionals have decided it's rude to try - "They're just neuorodivergent. You're being racist (if they're brown). They haven't actually hurt anyone yet". And so on.
Yes there has been failures in the system, I'd like to know data to see how widespread it is, for certain the system needs help by the Government to protect mental health patients and safety of the public.
Too many criminals using mental health to escape responsibility for their crimes. Too many murders just lately committed by care in communities offenders. Secure facilities are definitely needed for more of them.
There are people with severe mental health conditions that need to be in specialist institutions. For their own safety and that of others. The myth of community care comes from a misguided but well intentioned belief that they can be integrated and live normal lives - sadly some cannot.
Yes especially as community care has failed so miserably, try getting a crisis team at 2am. They should never have shut the asylums.
There are now a number of high profile cases where this has been shown. The issue is not only the community care but we have now been able to see in detail the very poor decision-making by those with responsibility for ensuring the person is no danger to others. Community care is likely to remain but improved controls and real accountability must be implemented
Community care is often a complete abrogation of responsibility. Rather than treating - and where appropriate - confining dangerous people in institutions like secure hospitals or prisons, community care simply dumps them into society, but also prohibits society from protecting itself. If they are a danger, keep them secured away until they are not a danger.