Citation

Hallett N. Psychiatry Psychol. Law. 2016; 23(3): 430-434.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13218719.2015.1080146

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The quality of medical reports submitted to Mental Health Tribunals is often variable. A prospective clinical audit was undertaken to improve the quality of reports in line with the Practice Direction from the Tribunals Service and the new Department of Health Code of Practice for the Mental Health Act in England and Wales. Report content was rated by the Tribunal panels and by an independent assessor as part of an audit cycle accompanied by training on medical report writing and the implementation of a new report template. Panels rated over 93% of reports as at least adequate. The detailed content of reports significantly improved from 2014 to 2015 with authors including adjustments for a fair hearing and assessment of a patient's capacity (p<0.001, medium effect sizes; phi 0.379 and 0.382 respectively). This article concludes that the quality of medical reports for tribunals can be improved by training and guidelines.