New funding for safe places for people in mental health crisis
This article reminds us of the ‘treatment gap’ in mental health provision. The Department of Health and the Home Office have launched a £15 million fund to provide health and community places of safety to prevent vulnerable people from being held in police cells. Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary, and Theresa May, Home Secretary, want to prevent people in crisis, who have committed no crime, from being held in a police cell because health services are not available.
Jeremy Hunt said: “mental illness is not a crime – we want to end the scandal of people in crisis being unnecessarily locked up in a police cell. This funding will mean local areas can invest in creating safe places so people get the best support.” Theresa May said: “I have always been clear that people experiencing a mental health crisis should receive care and support rather than being held in a police cell…While progress is being made, in some areas there is still a long way to go to improve outcomes for people with mental health needs…This funding will ensure there are alternatives to police cells available right around the country because nobody wins when the police are sent to look after people experiencing a mental health crisis – vulnerable people don’t get the care they need and deserve, and the police can’t get on with the job they are trained to do.”
The funding will be used in 10 police force areas to: refurbish or improve existing health-based places of safety (to increase capacity), build new places of safety, make existing places of safety suitable for people aged 18 and under, create mental health crisis cafes or places of calm, provide ambulance transport to places of safety and provide mobile services to respond to mental health crises in the community.
According to the Home Office progress has already been made to decrease the use of police cells – with a 32% reduction between April 2013 and March 2015. However, use of police cells still varies considerably across the country.
Many of us want to break the silence in rural mental health; this isn’t just about statistics or new delivery models but how can we ‘prevent things from getting to the desperate stage?’