Supervised Community Treatment (SCT) will be an option for patients following a period of detention in hospital. It is expected that this will allow a number of patients with a mental disorder to live in the community whilst subject to certain conditions under the 1983 Act as amended, to ensure they continue with the medical treatment that they need. Currently some patients leave hospital and do not continue with their treatment, their health deteriorates and they require detention again - the so called 'revolving door'.

NMHDU's work on SCT includes:

1. Information Leaflets - for service users.  Available in full colour and black and white version.
2. Practitioners' Guide - a pocket book guide for professionals who will be working with Supervised Community Treatment including health practitioners, the police, ambulance and social care. **Now available, see link below**
   
3. Statutory Forms - new forms to manage the SCT process
4. Training Module - a specific training module based on Values Based Approach to consider how to develop good practice around SCT.
5. Care Pathway - a care pathway diagram with supporting information to help professionals. **This is now available, see details below**
   
6. Planning Tool - a model which allows for scenario planning by showing impact of changes in patient flows between hospital and the community as SCT is introduced (see SCT Model)

New on this page:

Supervised Community Treatment: A Guide for Practitioners is now available.   

Download the Mental Health Act Commission Consultation for Supervised Community Treatment for Second Opinion Appointed DOctos (SOADs).

'ASK NMHDU (formerly nimhe)' Frequently Asked Questions about SCT. Updated 17.9.08 This document contains best practice advice from NMHDU (formerly nimhe) on questions that have come up and is updated regularly.

The SCT Planning Model is now available.

The SCT Care Pathway can be downloaded as a PDF document. Please note, you will need you use the zoom function within Adobe PDF to view the Pathway.

For more information on SCT, the Code of Practice (chapters 28 and 31) is useful whilst the secondary legislation, has the draft statutory forms and plans for transition of Section 25A patients.

You might be interested to read a Procedural Guide to SCT produced by the West Midlands Mental Health Policy Collaborative.

For further information contact Jim Symington who is based at the NMHDU

The National Mental Health Development Unit (NMHDU) is the agency charged with supporting the implementation of mental health policy in England by the Department of Health in collaboration with the NHS, Local Authorities and other major stakeholders.