Terms beginning with F G and I

• Forensic mental health services
• Formal patient
• Foundation Trust
• Guardians
• Intervention
• Independent Complaints Advocacy Service
• Independent Mental Health Advocates
• Independent Placement and Support
• Informal patients
• Integrated services

Forensic mental health services

Forensic mental health services are for people who have mental health problems who have committed a serious criminal offence, or who are thought to be at high risk of committing a serious crime.

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Formal patient

People can be admitted to hospital and treated without their consent under the Mental Health Act 2007. People who are compulsorily admitted to hospital are called ‘formal patients’. People who go to hospital voluntarily when they are unwell are called ‘informal patients.’

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Foundation Trust

Most mental health services are run by NHS Mental Health Trusts. Many NHS Trusts are ‘Foundation Trusts’. This is a status conferred by the Department of Health that gives the NHS organisation a little more power over how it runs its services and how it spends its budget. Local people and local organisations can become members of Foundation Trusts to have a say in how they are managed.

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Guardians

Under the Mental Health Act, people living in the community who have a ‘mental disorder’ can be given a ‘guardian’ if two doctors think they needs help, or supervision. A guardian may be a social services authority, or an individual who is approved by a social services authority. An individual is called a ‘private guardian’.

A guardian has legal powers, which include telling someone where they must live, and telling someone to attend appointments for treatment. However, treatment cannot be given without the person’s consent.

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Intervention

An ‘intervention’ describes any treatment or package of support that is given to someone who is unwell. An intervention could be a drug, or a talking therapy, or an hour spent with a volunteer.

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Independent Complaints Advocacy Service

This is a free, confidential and independent service that can help you make a formal complaint about NHS services.

The Service is run by three organisations:,
The Carers Federation
POhWER
and
SEAP (South of England Advocacy Projects)

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Independent Mental Health Advocates

Independent Mental Health Advocates help people detained under the Mental Health Act in England to understand their rights. They can help people understand what they are being told by mental health professionals, and represent their views. Independent Mental Health Advocates can also help if someone wants to appeal to a Mental Health Review Tribunal against the decision to detain or treat them under the Mental Health Act.

Primary care trusts are responsible for organising Independent Mental Health Advocacy services for people detained under the Mental Health Act.

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Independent Placement and Support

Individual Placement and Support is a way of helping someone with a mental health problem secure employment, and then supporting them while they are at work, for as long as they need. Employment specialists (also called job coaches or employment consultants) will help someone get a job – including coaching them for an interview, for example – and then support both the individual and the employer for as long as is necessary. They meet people regularly or offer advice on the phone, and family members and friends might be part of a team that supports people in their working lives.

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Informal patients

People who go to hospital voluntarily when they are unwell are called ‘informal patients.’

People can be admitted to hospital and treated without their consent under the Mental Health Act 2007. People who are compulsorily admitted to hospital are called ‘formal patients’.

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Integrated services

Most mental health services are run by NHS Mental Health Trusts but they are usually ‘integrated’ services. This means they include social workers employed by the local authority.