Mental Health Act 1983: revised Code of Practice

The Secretary of State for Health laid a revised Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice before Parliament on 12 May 2008. The final published version is now available as a free PDF download or to buy in hard copy form, priced £16.50.

This version replaces the version published electronically in May. The text of the Code itself is the same (but with minor errors corrected on pages 28, 30 and 342). The document now includes cross-references to the Department's Mental Health Act Reference Guide. That Reference Guide will be available electronically in early September and hard copies will subsequently be available for purchase from TSO.

The revised Code will come into force on Monday 3 November 2008, at the same time as the majority of the main changes by made the Mental Health Act 2007 to the Mental Health Act 1983.

The Department of Health has also published a summary of the main changes compared to the current (1999) version of the Code. 

Code of Practice and Summary of Changes
Buy hard copies of the Code of Practice from TSO

The National Mental Health Development Unit (NMHDU) is the agency charged with supporting the implementation of mental health policy in England by the Department of Health in collaboration with the NHS, Local Authorities and other major stakeholders.