Solicitors assist with pilot scheme for the mentally impaired

Solicitors are set to play a major rle in a pilot project aimed at helping clients with mental health problems get access to justice, a conference heard last week.The joint initiative between lawyers, the Legal Services Commission (LSC), advocates and user representatives, will involve publicising the availability of legal advice services in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

The first phase of the project includes the distribution of free posters with language translations, lists of local advisers and best practice guides for hospitals.Around one-third of hospitals in the area have already taken advantage of free literature distributed by the LSC and local solicitors, who are now looking to roll the scheme out to other parts of the country.Lorraine Jackson, regional planning and partnership manager for the LSC, said major issues up for debate at the conference, which examined the project, were the potential of advocacy in helping mental health patients, and extending advice to vulnerable groups such as asylum seekers and ethnic minorities.

Paula Rohan