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Concern over NHS mental health bed shortages, after 16-year-old is held in police cell for two days (1 December 2014)

Date: 01/12/2014
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Concern over NHS mental health bed shortages, after 16-year-old is held in police cell for two days

The case of a 16-year-old girl with mental health issues who was kept in police custody for two days because of a lack of mental beds has highlighted the plight of thousands of mental health patients unable to access mental health services and beds.

ITV News reports that the 16-year-old was detained at a police station in Devon and Cornwall while a search for an NHS mental health bed was launched.

Leading charity Rethink Mental Illness claims that thousands of mental health patients are still being taken into police custody because of a shortage of mental health beds.

Police have a duty to take mental health patient to a place of safety after they are detained – ideally this would be a specialist mental health unit at a hospital.

However, if no facility is nearby or a bed is not available, mental health patients may be detained in police custody – which may cause trauma to a mental health patient. Many police stations are beginning to work with nursing staff and mental health professionals on the frontline of policing to make sure suspects detained are properly assessed for mental health conditions before being held in police cells.

However, cutbacks to mental health budgets have resulted in beds being lost and long waiting times to access mental health services.

Chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, Mark Winstanley, said the recent case involving a teenage girl being held by police for two days was “troubling” – but “far from an isolated incident”.

Mr Winstanley said:

“Each year, thousands of people with serious mental health problems are being held in police cells – including many children and teenagers – because the right services either don't exist in their community or are completely overstretched.

“Being held in a police cell can be extremely distressing – and should only ever happen as an absolute last resort.
“But many people are being turned away from ‘places of safety' because of staff shortages or lack of spaces.

“In some parts of the country, there are no health-based places of safety, full-stop,” he added.

The 16-year-old girl at the centre of the case has now been found a place at a specialist unit, the NHS confirmed.

However Devon and Cornwall Police have expressed concern at the shortage of mental health beds, saying that not even a criminal would be held for 48 hours in police custody, as the teenager was.

The girl was taken to the police station on Thursday night (27/11/14) from Torbay Hospital on suspicion of causing a breach of the peace.

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Netherton of Devon and Cornwall Police said that doctors had nowhere to place the girl.

“But obviously a police station is not where someone suffering mental health issues should be kept,” he said.

The teenager’s mother was allowed access to her while she was held in police custody, Devon and Cornwall Police added.

Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors

Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors are the UK’s largest provider of Legal Aid mental health services – and regularly attend appointments at police stations and hospitals to advise on mental health law, including access to NHS mental health services.

In some cases, Duncan Lewis mental health solicitors may be able to advise the Nearest Relative or carer of a mental health patient, including initiating treatment reviews, where appropriate.

For expert legal advice on mental health law, call the Duncan Lewis Mental Health Solicitors Helpline on 0203 114 1224.

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