Voluntary patients are being kept on locked wards, says commission

Voluntary patients are being kept on locked psychiatric wards with restricted patients and are at risk of being unlawfully deprived of their liberty, the Care Quality Commission concludes in its first annual report on the use of the Mental Health Act.

The commission, the independent regulator for health and social care in England which took over responsibility for monitoring the use of the act in April 2009, said more people than ever were being detained under its provisions.

Figures from the NHS Information Centre show that the numbers of formal admissions to hospital were …