News

We asked:- Should mental health services be staffed 24 hours a day so that professional help will always be on hand to reduce the risk of police error?

Here are some of the comments we received:-

"I work as an out-of-hours approved social worker in central London and I find that 65-70% of the referrals I receive for Mental Health Act assessments are from the police.
 
On the whole I feel that the police make good referrals - most of the s136 referrals end up being admitted to hospital showing that the police have correctly identified mental illness.  There are also two police liaison community psychiatric nurse posts in this area, in recognition of the high proportion of people with mental illness being arrested.

However, the out-of-hours service finishes at 9 pm and after that there is only one emergency duty social worker working all night who has to respond to emergencies from all client groups.  This means that people sometimes have to remain in police custody overnight before they can be assessed by mental health professionals. 

24-hour mental health services would be a positive thing, not only to reduce the possibility of police error but also to ensure that police officers know that when they make a referral to mental health services they will receive a rapid response at any hour of the day or night.”

Wendy Hellam
Out of hours ASW
South Westminster

“Yes I think that would be great, for the mental health services to be staffed 24-hours a day so that professional help will always be on hand to reduce the risk of police error.”

Lorraine