In January 2010 under Rule 43 of the Coroners Rules 1983 the Coroner for the district of Birmingham and Solihull reported to the Lord Chancellor his concerns for the conveyance to, and the use of police stations as a place of safety in the West Midlands.
Furthermore, numerous government reports have recommended that Police Stations are not used as the default location for clients in need of urgent mental health assessment under the Mental Health Act. In order to support the provision of health based places of safety (as defined under the act) we have produced commissioning intentions for a healthcare based place of safety.
NHS West Midlands RDC has been working with all 17 PCT's in the region to identify commissioning intentions and standards for the use of a place of safety. We are currently working intensely with several PCT's to secure interim arrangements for the use of NHS Places of Safety and the implementation of a universal regional wide protocol.
This regional protocol seeks to ensure that the patient needs are at the heart of all arrests under section 136 of the Mental Health Act. The protocol ensures that all patients subject to this section will be conveyed by Ambulance to the appropriate place of safety, and that partnership organistions will be mindfull of the support for one another in meeting patient needs and the safety of all involved.
Quick analysis of an operational Place of Safety
After one month of one of the West Midlands Health Places of Safety being operational we know the following. 53% of admissions were male, 46% of all patients seen at the health based place of safety were admitted either formally or informally to an acute mental health setting. 79% of patients were already known to the mental health trust. The shortest time the police remained at the health based place of safety was 1 hour from arrival, the longest was 5hrs 45mins. Some patients were held in a police station, the maximum percentage of total patients held at a police station was 28%, down from 100% the month before.
As with any quick analysis, there are likely to be some double counting issues and we have presented the data in percentages, although the patient numbers are considerably lower than 100. (This paragraph was added on October 14th 2010)
Commissioning Intentions Template Protocol PoS Mapping Tool
and Specification
Code of Practice Royal College Standards
