the Coronavirus Bill Are you Worried

[Pumpkinpie1]

The Above Bill is being rushed through parliament on Monday & is being heavily criticised as slashing Mental health, education & social care rights
Should we be worried ? Are you writing to your MP?

Isn't there a Corona board for Corona threads? What is you AIBU?

Was there an attachment?

I will write to my mp. I understand the whole national emergency sitiation but some of the items are very concerning.

What's your exact concerns? Is this not what the majority of MN are shouting for? People enforced to stay in? Everyone to be tested? Do you think their is a nefarious plan to use these powers to illegally detain people who aren't at risk of being positive and spreading the virus?

Ohtherewearethen - i would say this is more about politics and the rights of vulnerable people than the virus itself. It needs a wider audience to understand the implications. Im a bit out of date on it but other similarv legislation in the war had to be renewed more regularly for instance.

At a time like this, the state must take control. To do that they need the powers and authority.
Personally, I'd be in favour of the armed forces taking control of the streets and keeping the idiot people in their homes. They can also take over the supermarkets and make sure people aren't taking the piss. It can all be sorted after Corona has been dealt with.

MonkeyToesOfDoom - but have you read the Bill. All Bills need scrutiny and amendments. The sections people are concerned about are adult social care, sen education and mental health. It last 2 years - way beyond normal emegency bills and all the power is with one party wheras in war they normsl do consesus.
I dont think peoplecare suggesting emergency power arent needed - but lets get them right. Thats thecwhole point of democratic processess.

this is more about politics and the rights of vulnerable people than the virus itself. But grass does this then = someone with the symptoms and highly likely to have it, is allowed to breach the current isolation plans- especially if they refuse a test? I work in a hospital, my colleagues and l would love the offer of a test, l can't think why someone offered one would refuse!

YABU - post to the correct board

Oh for gods sake

Im assuming the OP is concerned about sweeping changes to citizens rights by the current government

Just because it has corona in the title i dont think it should be moved

Your error pumpkin was putting corona in the title...

Can anyone give a summary of the issues for the uninformed (me)?

I heard that they are making it much easier to section people which doesn't seem right, or relevent.

Does seem a bit concerning.

Two years seems excessively long for reductions for the number of doctors needed to section someone, for example.

Changes to the number of doctors required to detain you under the Mental Health Act for assessment and treatment

Usually 3 people have to agree that you need to be detained. These are normally an approved mental health professional (AMHP) and 2 doctors. Under the new legislation the number of doctors is reduced to 1.

The AMHP has to record the reason why the decision to detain you was made on the recommendation of only 1 doctor. And they should only take this decision if they believe that staff shortages caused by coronavirus mean it would take too long for a second doctor to assess you.

www.rethink.org/news-and-stories/blogs/2020/03/coronavirus-temporary-changes-to-the-mental-health-act/?fbclid=IwAR3HeUIlC2SkJYWVGR_unXp0n2Ja1nMZYlC41WWV5E5WZYwoLV3--F8Fql0

I’m more concerned that such legislation hasn’t been discussed and in place before now. What I mean is that it’s there ready to be signed off if the PHE or the WHO say it is a “pandemic”. Or some other trigger word.
Whilst I would love to agree that it needs to be discussed - I don’t think that there is time right now. So yes, perhaps a shorter limit on the life expectancy of the proposed bill should be in place. On the other hand, our best experts are predicting this could last for 18months...
Logically, if people had headed advice and not panicked we wouldn’t be facing this.

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-bill-emergency-laws-to-contain-spread-of-covid-19-published-11959342

For those wanting a brief idea.

There is a most peculiar discrepancy between a bill that gives the government extraordinary powers for a period of 2 years and Boris' statement that we will have beaten the pandemic in 12 weeks

If that is what he believes, what does he expect to use the bill for during the remaining 92 months? Surely it would be perfectly possible to make a bill for 6 months, with the option of extension if the pandemic is still going/if parliament agrees

This government has already shown a worrying lack of concern for ordinary democratic procedures and citizens' rights.

As a pp pointed out, the normal procedure during a national crisis is to try to work across party borders to find a common solution. Instead a lot of the power seems to lie with a small group of unelected advisors.

It's amazing how we can rush through a bill that reduces civil liberties for the mentally ill, but it took the government 2-3 crucial days to um and ah about putting Northern Italy on the list of hotspots, and then another 2-3 days of uming and ahing about putting the whole of Italy on the same list.

If you are accused of a crime, the court may think that your mental health was a factor in your offence. Under Section 35 and 36 of the Act, the court can send you to hospital for your mental health condition to be assessed.

Normally you can be sent to hospital for no more than 28 days. If your doctor thinks you need to be in hospital longer, they can tell the court. And the court can extend the section for further 28-day periods, up to 12 weeks at the most.

Under the emergency measures there would be no 12-week upper limit. This means that you can be kept in hospital, under a section 36 or 37, for longer than 12 weeks.

I am terrified of the rules the government are said to be brining in on Monday re who gets to be treated if they need hospital care after having contracted the virus.

I am going to be left to die as I am being treated for cancer.

My life is now less than yours.

My child doesn’t deserve a mother as much as as any of his friends.

I understand the issue of scarce resources, but why do I have to die so that others may live?

Why not leave it to the doctors to make a proper decision. Instead it appears that I won’t even be allowed to be in with a chance of being treated by a doctor, in a hospital.

Although I’m pretty healthy day to day, I’m disabled too which is another nail in the coffin, although the cancer isn’t in my lungs so the virus may well male me ill in a completely different way... but it won’t matter, because I have the big buzz words that means I will get turned away without anyone even examining me or making an assessment of my chances.

I feel like killing myself now, while I still can.

Any cretin NOT social Isolating, going out and mixing. taking too much food/supplies so others go without and putting everyone else's life at risk should be at the bottom of the heap and not treated.

The ones mixing are lots of young people who are more likely to pass it on to vulnerable people then need ICU care themselves.

And there will not be enough doctors available to have 3 agreeing on sectioning.

As I have a chronic illness and need carers daily I have been following the part of the bill that affects social care. It is concerning. I would think at this time of crisis disabled people should be a priority group, not have their protection reduced.

This is the template people have been using to write to their MPs on the social care issue:

“believe that the #CoronaVirusBill presents a real and present danger to the lives of Disabled people. The government’s plans for Disabled children and adults during the crisis are effectively rolling back 30 years of progress for Disabled people. They also come after years of chronic under funding of social care which have resulted in a social care system already at breaking point. The government’s plans are to:

• remove Disabled people’s rights to social care
• change the duties to educate to meet children’s educational requirements to a ‘reasonable endeavours’ duty
• severely undermine the civil liberties of Disabled people and erode their rights to support.

I understand this is an unprecedented and extremely challenging situation, but given the already broken social care system this Bill will almost inevitably leave many thousands of Disabled people without essential support or any rights to request this support. Rolling back our rights is not good for anyone and in the current circumstances will put many lives at risk.

Rather than removing Disabled people’s right to social care support the government must treat our essential social care service as key infrastructure, alongside the NHS, and as such it must immediately provide the necessary funding to keep this vital service running.

To explain my reasons for writing to you, please see my understanding of negative social implications of the #CoronaVirusBill on the lives of Disabled people and their families detailed below. This information was prepared by the barristers who specialise in public law and disability rights.

What about the rights of disabled people?

Local authorities will have a duty to uphold disabled people’s human rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, BUT the threshold for a breach, in terms of not providing care and support is high, which means that disabled people will be left without care and support. Lack of care and support will have a significant impact on disabled people’s well-being, but may not be considered to reach the threshold for their human rights to have been breached – they will NOT have a right to care and support.

There won't be enough in the near future, no. But two years?

The bill should have a time limit of 3-6 months, with an option for extension.

Oh, I don't like that. A few years ago I had a doctor who wanted me sectioned. They couldn't get anyone to agree. It was decided a long time ago, that this would be extremely detrimental to me. It's a major issue every time I have to go into isolation.

Schools can be forced to close/stay open. Class sizes ignored? Wtaf.

Why 2 years? That is dodgy. I've been saying for days don't trust these slimy fuckers. Any plans they put into place, will always come with a price and didn't take them that long.

The supermarket thing is shifting the blame back to them. If the government had done something days ago to stop the panic buying, supermarkets wouldn't be in this situation.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3856362-Will-disabled-people-be-paying-the-price-for-the-COVID-19-effort?watched=1&msgid=94912525#94912525