By Chris Hogg BBC Health Correspondent

Doctors, lawyers and mental health campaigners have urged ministers to scrap proposed new mental health laws.

The groups have warned that the draft Mental Health Bill, unveiled in July, is "unworkable" and risks a return to the NHS of the 1950s.

Their warning comes as government officials launch a series of road shows to sell the proposed legislation to those working in the sector.

Ministers have said the changes will provide safeguards for patients and protection for the public.

They have hijacked generic mental health legislation and turned it into a public order Bill

Professor Mike Shooter, Royal College of Psychiatrists

The Bill includes new powers to allow doctors to force people with severe mental illness to receive treatment without their consent.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists has criticised the proposals.

Knee-jerk reaction

Its president Professor Mike Shooter said accused the government of a knee-jerk reaction to a small number of high profile cases.

He said: "This is risk driven. It is home office driven. It is Michael Stone driven - that is what is behind this.

"They have hijacked generic mental health legislation and turned it into a public order Bill."

The piece of legislation as it's drafted is not only unworkable but unreadable

Carolyn Kirby, The Law Society

Professor Peter Beresford of London's Brunel University warned that the measures could discourage patients from seeking treatment and bring a return to 1950s care.

"When we got to see people [then] it was almost always very late. They and their families were desperately struggling to keep them away from what they feared it would be like in the lunatic asylum.

"What worries me is that we may have the possibility of returning to that sort of thing where people will desperately try to keep away from services which could help them."

Carolyn Kirby, president of the Law Society, criticised the legislation saying some of its language was confusing.

"The piece of legislation as it's drafted is not only unworkable but unreadable," she said.