Voting is an intrinsic part of being a member of society and promotes social inclusion. The vast majority of mental health service users have the same right to vote as the general population but are a disenfranchised group and inpatients are half as likely to vote. Service users experience many barriers to voting including knowledge of their eligibility and the accessibility of the registration and voting process. Mental health staff need to understand service users’ voting rights so they can offer appropriate support. This project aimed to explore staff knowledge of service users’ voting rights.

77 multidisciplinary team members from inpatient and community settings in Haringey were surveyed about voting rights.

Questions focussed on staff knowledge of service users’ right to vote (whether or not subject to various civil or forensic sections), if capacity to vote was required and if those with certain diagnoses were legally disenfranchised.

27 Care Coordinators were asked if they discussed voting with service users and whether support around voting and registration was in care plans.

The response rate was 96%. No respondents answered completely correctly. Staff knowledge was similar across all groups and settings.

The majority of staff believed community service users (89%) and informal inpatients (93%) were able to vote.

63% of respondents knew inpatients on civil sections could vote. 81% knew those on a Community Treatment Order could vote. 40% of responses regarding the forensic sections were correct.

56% believed service users needed to have capacity in order to vote.

Certain diagnoses were believed to legally prevent service users from voting, including dementia (19%) and schizophrenia (13%).

44% of Care Coordinators discussed voting with service users and 26% included voting in care plans.

Despite a national campaign, the level of staff knowledge is disappointingly low throughout all groups and settings, risking service users being given wrong information. This further disenfranchises a group that already experiences significant barriers to vote.

It is of particular concern that a significant minority of staff believed certain diagnoses legally prevent voting.

It was poorly understood that capacity is not relevant to the right to vote.

Voting rights and available support is not widely discussed by care coordinators with service users.

Clearly, education and training on voting rights is necessary for mental health professionals. We are planning staff education sessions and service user workshops as a quality improvement project.