Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Ellis, has this week welcomed proposals for a major change in the way mental health crisis services are delivered across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. The changes will be implemented over the next year.
Senior representatives from Health, Social Care, Local Authorities and Police this week signed up to reinforcing that police custody cells are fundamentally the wrong place for individuals with a mental health condition to be held unless they have committed an offence.
The sign up is underpinned by a series of principles which have been agreed and will make it a ‘serious action’ for police custody cells to be used in this way, automatically triggering a multi-agency review to confirm the appropriateness or otherwise of use.
National rules already state that no-one should be detained in a police custody cell under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act except in ‘exceptional’ circumstances. But in Staffordshire and nationally what defines ‘exceptional’ has become more extensive and less clear. Part of the work agreed will be to definitively establish and set out what is ‘exceptional’ for all agencies in Staffordshire.
The principles which have been formally adopted and will be realised in the next year are:
• All Section 136 detentions in police custody will have triggered a multi-agency review to see whether they are ‘exceptional’.
• All frontline police officers will have clearly defined access to mental health advice, support and information.
• The total number of Section 136 detentions managed in the NHS and on an ‘exceptional basis’ in police custody will have fallen.
• The proportion of Section 136 detentions requiring an immediate intervention from mental health services will have increased.
107 people with suspected mental health conditions were held in police cells over a nine month period ending December 2013 and a report commissioned by Mr Ellis showed that nearly 20 per cent of total policing time across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is spent dealing with mental health- related incidents.
The ‘Staffordshire Report’ was instigated and published following two months’ of meetings the Commissioner held with frontline police officers and others to discuss the issues that affected policing most.
Mr Ellis said what he was told provided serious cause for concern not only for policing but primarily because individuals who are simply ill find themselves locked in a cell because the right services aren’t available in the right way.
“The report highlighted the scale of the problem and made it clear that a lack of joined-up services and a lack of the right support at the right time for people in mental health crisis are key reasons why individuals end up in police cells instead of more appropriate facilities,” he said.
“It’s right that the problem has risen high on the national agenda and it was helpful that the Home Secretary used the Staffordshire Report to reinforce the scale of the problem. Nearly all the agencies across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent that can make change happen are now working together at the highest level to make sure change actually does happen.
“The timetable of six to 12 months agreed is sensible although some aspects will be done sooner. What I am certain is that the determination and genuine ambition that is being shown will result in more effective support and a better, fairer system.”
Rita Symons, Accountable Officer for the South East Staffordshire and Seisdon Peninsula Clinical Commissioning Group, added: “This is real progress. We must ensure a system is in place that stops people in mental health crisis ending up in a police cell because it’s the only place available. This work links with the work of Health and Wellbeing Boards and compliments the wider reform that is being undertaken in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.”
Chief Constable Mike Cunningham said that that the inappropriate use of police cells as a place of safety over many years is an issue that has to be addressed.
“This is an important step forwards in what has been a difficult issue for years. The police deal with every type of incident that it is possible to think of but people who find themselves in mental health crisis are often the most difficult for officers to deal with,” he said.
“Too often, officers are asked to make decisions whilst attending incidents involving mental health issues that they are not qualified to make. Improvements to the crisis support that have now been agreed and a more effective mechanism for officers at the sharp end to obtain immediate professional advice is welcome.”
Mr Ellis added: “There is strong commitment from all agencies around the table. The conference I hosted at the end of last year on this issue really focused minds and has resulted in agencies across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent agreeing to tackle head on an issue that has moral, social and practical challenges at its heart.
“Now the changes agreed have to be delivered and some parts of the sector will have greater issues in doing that than others. But the determination is clearly there and I want to thank all involved for that whilst offering continued support in any way I can to ensure the changes become a reality during the next six to 12 months.”
