Adult Mental Health Services

Our duties

The council has duties to help people under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Health Act 2007

The MHA 1983 allows for the assessment, treatment, and rights of people with a mental health disorder that require urgent treatment and are at risk of harm to themselves or others.  

The MHA Act 2007 covers people with serious mental disorders which threaten their own health or safety, or the safety of the public, so they can be treated irrespective of their consent where it is necessary to prevent them from harming themselves or others. 

Our mental health services

The Network

This team provides short-term support to individuals who are managing mental health challenges and who want to become more independent and achieve their personal goals.

Mental health social work

including Older Adults, and the Early Intervention Services (EIS).

Intensive Enablement team

They aim to work with you to develop confidence in daily living tasks.

Approved Mental Health Professional team (AMHP), Mental Capacity Act team (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty team (DOLS)

These teams ensure that people who lack capacity to make decisions by themselves get the support they need, allowing them to be as involved as possible with any decisions about them.

Personal information collected

• name
• address and contact details
• date of birth
• financial information
• equalities information
• health and medical information  
• Social Services records 
• information from the local authority from where you live and previously lived
• family and relationship information
• NHS number
• support network
• referral and assessment information
• education information 
• housing information  

Who we share your personal data with

Social Workers

Social workers from adult social services help you decide, plan, agree and put in place the support and care you need (care packages). They will regularly look at your care package with you to make sure it is right.

If there are safeguarding concerns, your social worker can help. They're there to protect and improve the quality of your life.

Children’s social workers for individuals transitioning between child to adult social care. 

Environmental services

For example recycling and waste for help with treating hoarding, or assisted collections.

Council Legal Service

They provide advice on the Mental Health Act including admission for treatment and hospital orders. 

We also work with health care professionals, other local authorities and the emergency services to help reach the best possible outcome for individuals.  

Health professionals

We have integrated Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Services where the council and the local NHS Trusts work together. We also share data with:

• health care agencies, including GPs and hospitals
• acute health services, where a patient receives active, short-term treatment for a condition
• specialist health professionals like occupational therapists, dieticians, speech and language therapists 
• counselling, specialist assessment, intervention, and support, social workers from adult services
• psychiatry to assess and understand if you have mental health needs that require some support

Other organisations

• other local authorities, referrals from us to them and from them to us
• police and fire service (for safeguarding reasons)
• legal representatives
• professional regulatory bodies like the Care Quality Commission
• voluntary agencies or third sector, for example; Mind (helping to support you with mental health problems in a non-clinical way without medication or a diagnosis) and Wearewithyou (if you need advice for yourself or others) 
• housing providers like Barnet Homes including help to understand your Health or Social Care needs, if you are being affected by an eviction or a decant of one of their buildings
• care homes or residential facilities
• office of the Public Guardian
• DWP

We will work with you to choose what, if any, information about you that we provide to your family, friends, and support network. 

Legislation that applies

• Mental Health Act 1983
• Mental Health Act 2007
• Mental Capacity Act 2005

How long we keep your personal data

In most circumstances, we retain your information for 10 years. 

If your support or service is assessed as Adult Protection (Safeguarding), we retain your information for 10 years from last contact or 10 years from date of death.

For clients receiving support from the Mental Health Service, we retain your information for 20 years from last contact or 10 years from date of death.