'Psychiatric Asbos' will fail, say mental health experts

Controversial measures to control mental health patients outside hospitals will not work and could deter sufferers from seeking help, according to a report commissioned by the Government.

The measures, known as Community Treatment Orders (CTOs), are a key plank of the Government's Mental Health Bill, which is currently before Parliament.

The so-called "psychiatric Asbos" would impose conditions on patients being released from hospital. These include taking medication, observing curfews and refraining from alcohol. Patients who breach the orders could be returned to secure mental hospitals.

The House of Lords has already savaged the Government's mental health plans. But peers who debated the Bill last month did so without knowing that the Department of Health's own research has concluded that there is little evidence that the measures will work. The Government is under pressure to release the findings of an independent study, commissioned last year.

However, The Independent on Sunday has learnt that the key conclusion of the report is that there is no evidence that CTOs work. The IoS has campaigned for nearly five years for the Government to rethink its mental health reforms, which campaigners say will turn psychiatrists into jailers.