Mental Health Commission

The Mental Health Commission is an independent body established under the Mental Health Act 2001. The Commission's functions are to promote, encourage and foster high standards and good practices in the delivery of mental health services and to protect the interests of people who are detained in approved psychiatric centres.

Functions

The Commission has a number of responsibilities under the Act that include:

• Appointing mental health tribunals to review the detention of involuntary patients and appointing a legal representative for each patient. Read more about mental health tribunals in our document on the rights of psychiatric patients.
• Establishing and maintaining a Register of Approved Centres that are inpatient facilities providing care and treatment for people with a mental illness and mental disorder.
• Making rules regulating the use of specific treatments and interventions such as ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy), seclusion and mechanical restraint.
• Developing codes of practice for people working in the mental health services and enable them to provide high quality care and treatment to service users.
• Appointing the Inspector of Mental Health Services who inspects approved psychiatric centres annually.

Members

The Commission has 13 members. As required by the Mental Health Act 2001, members include:

• A lawyer
• Three registered practitioners of whom 2 are consultant psychiatrists
• A social worker
• Two registered nurses
• A psychologist
• A Health Service Executive (HSE) employee nominated by the HSE
• A representative of the general public and
• Three representatives of voluntary bodies (at least 2 of whom must have or have had a mental illness).

You can find more information on the Mental Health Commission website.