Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland

K Floor
Argyle House
3 Lady Lawson Street
Edinburgh
EH3 9SH

Tel (Service Users and Carers Freephone): 0800 389 6809
Tel: 0131 222 6111
Fax: 0131 222 6112
Web: www.mwcscot.org.uk
Best time to telephone: 9.00am - 5.00pm, Monday - Thursday; 9.00am - 4.30pm Friday. Answerphone at other times.

The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland is an independent organisation working to safeguard the rights and welfare of everyone with a mental disorder. It is made up of people who have understanding and experience of mental health and learning disability. People who work for the Commission have a background in healthcare, social work or the law. Some are carers or have used mental health or learning disability services themselves.

The Commission believes that everyone with a mental illness, learning disability or other mental disorder should:

• Be treated with dignity and respect.
• Have the right to treatment that's allowed by law and full meets professional standards.
• Have the right to live free from abuse, neglect or discrimination.
• Get the care and treatment that best suits his or her needs and be enabled to lead as fulfilling a life as possible.

The Commission provides advice, information and guidance to people who provide and use mental health and learning disability services.

• It runs a freephone line for service users, carers and independent advocates. The freephone line helps people to understand what the law says about their care and treatment.
• For service providers, the Commission provides advice and information about how the Act works. They can help with ethical issues and provide guidance to help promote high professional standards in mental health and learning disability care.

The Commission finds out whether individual treatment is in line with the law and practices it knows works well.

• The Commission meets people who use and provide mental health and learning disability services. They visit some people who are receiving care and treatment under the Act. Visits are a way for the Commission to talk directly to people and find out what they think about the care and treatment they are getting.
• People working at the Commission also meet with carers, advocacy workers, voluntary organisations and other agencies involved in caring for and treating people.
• Commission staff check paperwork and records of people who are being cared for or treated under mental health law. If they think there's a problem they will follow it up.
• The Commission monitors the use of safeguarded treatments such artificial feeding, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and make sure these are in a person's best interest.

The Commission challenges those who provide services for people with a mental illness or learning disability, to make sure they provide the highest standards of care.

• They question people who manage services about how they care for and treat people. They hold inquiries into cases when they think something might have gone seriously wrong in a person's care.
• Commission staff identify practices that work well and encourage people involved in mental health and learning disability services to use them.
• They produce best practice guidance for people who provide services.

The Commission collects and shares information on how mental health law is being applied across Scotland.

• They are notified of emergency, short term and long term orders under the act.
• They talk to people being cared for and treated under these laws to find out about the experience of service users.

The commission has a strong voice in how services and policies are developed.

• They have regular contact with the Scottish Executive, Ministers and MSPs. They also have links with professional and voluntary organisations and work with them to influence how policies are developed and put into practice.