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                  Mental Health

                  This entry in the Knowledge Base refers to local authorities and central authorities by the name they were given in the relevant legislation at the time. This terminology is now obsolete and its use in this entry is limited to formal names.

                  The treatment and care of people suffering from mental ill-health was initially provided by private institutions.  It was first subject to legislation in Scotland in 1815 when sheriffs were given the right to grant licenses and inspect institutions and empowered to set regulations for the care and confinement of inmates.[1] There was further amending legislation in 1828 and 1841.[2] In 1855 a Royal Commission on lunatic asylums in Scotland was set up and reported in 1857, leading to the Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857.[3]

                  Local authorities for mental health were set up in 1858 in the form of eight district lunacy boards under the Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857.[4] They were responsible for building asylums for the reception and care of people with mental health issues who had no means to support themselves. The district lunacy boards included representatives of the commissioners of supply and magistrates of burghs within the district. They were supervised by the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland which was also given supervisory powers over private and public licensed lunatic asylums.

                  In 1914 the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland was replaced by the General Board of Control for Scotland and the district lunacy boards were replaced with district boards of control under the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1913.[5] This Act gave the new boards of control responsibility for both mental health services and services for people with learning and other disabilities. District boards of control were abolished in 1930 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 and their responsibilities for local mental health services were transferred to county councils and large burghs.[6]

                  With the creation of the National Health Service, local authority involvement in mental health provision ceased and their responsibilities under the 1913 Act were allocated to local health authorities under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 while the management of mental health institutions was placed with the General Board of Control.[7] The General Board of Control was then replaced by the Mental Welfare Commission in 1960 and the responsibilities of local health authorities were re-defined.[8]

                  The Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 brought local authorities back into this function by enabling local authorities to provide residential accommodation, provide after care support and appoint mental health officers.[9]  The National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Act 2004 required health boards to establish a scheme for community health partnerships to co-ordinate the planning, development and provision of health services in consultation with the local authorities in the area. [10]

                  Records of the various general boards mentioned above are held by the National Records of Scotland (reference code MC). Depending on the area, records of local district boards are sometimes held by the archives service of the successor local authority (such as Glasgow City Archives and Aberdeenshire Archives) and sometimes by the NHS archives service (such as the University of Dundee Archives, the University of Stirling Archives & Special Collections and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Archives).

                  Compiler: Elspeth Reid (2021)

                  Related Knowledge Base entries

                  District lunacy boards & District boards of control

                  Bibliography

                  Andrews, Jonathan, They’re in the trade…of lunacy, they cannot interfere – they say’: the Scottish Lunacy Commissioners and lunacy reform in nineteenth-century Scotland. (Wellcome Trust, 1998)

                  Hunter, T Drummond, ‘Mental health and mental handicap: a new look at patterns in care’ in Improving the Common Weal: Aspects of Scottish health services 1900-1984 ed. by Gordon McLachlan (Edinburgh University Press for the Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, 1987) pp.325-65

                  Keane, A.M., ‘Mental health policy in Scotland, 1908-1960’ (Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1987)

                  Stone, J.A.W., ‘Lunacy’ in Source book and history of administrative law in Scotland ed. by M. R. McLarty (Hodge, 1956), pp. 161-76

                   

                  References

                  [1] Act to Regulate Madhouses in Scotland, 1815 (55 Geo. III c.69).

                  [2] Mad-houses (Scotland) Act, 1828, (9 Geo. IV c.34); Madhouses etc (Scotland) Act 1841 (4 & 5 Vict. c.60).

                  [3] Report by HM Commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of lunatic asylums in Scotland and the existing law in reference to lunatics and lunatic asylums (HMSO, 1857).

                  [4] Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c.71).

                  [5] Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1913 (3 & 4 Geo. V c.38).

                  [6] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 (29 & 30 Geo. V c. 25) s.1(1), s.14.

                  [7] National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. VI c.27) ss.49-51.

                  [8] Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1960 (c.61).

                  [9] Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 (c.36)

                  [10] National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 7).